


Mindshift

by violetofthevoid



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Politics, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Bisexuality, Character Death, Fantasy, Fascism, Female Characters, Fourth Wall, Furry, Gay, Genocide, Half-Vampires, Inspired by Homestuck, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Male Slash, Metafiction, Nonbinary Character, Occult, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, Outer Space, Politics, Revolution, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Sexuality, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, occasional sex scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:55:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 23,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26888464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetofthevoid/pseuds/violetofthevoid
Summary: A group of internet friends get wrapped up in a set of overlapping conspiracies that span countries, planets, and timelines. Originally seeming unrelated, their lives become more intertwined than they originally understood.{Updates usually come at least once a week at around 500-1000 words. Any hiatuses will be disclosed in the footnotes of said chapters.}
Kudos: 6





	1. The Tower of Solitude

The air around the tower which pierced through the thick canopy of treetops was humid on this foggy day. The tower was made up of a series of angular scaffolding which while rusted at some points was reinforced with clamps which were clearly tacked on at a later point. At the top of the mess of supports was an enclosure which looked like a porcelain flying saucer. The enclosure was encircled by a railing which looked as though it was fused with the building itself, said railing created the illusion that the enclosure was in the process of being swallowed up by the earth below with its grotesquely skeletal, outstretched maw. 

The tower was home to Luca and Laura Roberts, a pair of siblings who were nonetheless different. At her orders Luca was to never leave the tower, while she got to explore the world freely. She told her brother on numerous occasions that she had to leave for work but this “work” was always different each time he asked and often would go without explaining the gaps where he was left alone in the house. 

The setting for Luca wasn’t all so glum. During the periods where she was home, Laura would often recount stories she heard on the outside and bring him things back which she believed might pique his interest. On his twelfth birthday Laura gifted him with a phone in order to keep in contact with her and soon after installed a desktop computer. 

The computer was nothing fancy. It had a screen which was more akin to a thirty pound crate than something to display the visual aspect of computer programs. The operating system’s default language often flickered to a language Luca couldn’t understand, requiring the help of Laura in order to navigate back to the version he could comprehend. 

It was through the computer Luca met his only friends: two users of a highly dated instant messaging program known as _Antide_. These users were ScientificKilljoy and DangerousMenace of which it was the former whose unprompted messaging caused our story to start. Despite orders from Laura to keep the number to Luca’s phone as a tool exclusively for them to communicate, Luca regularly kept in contact with his friends using the device. 

On this foggy day, several years down the line, Luca laid in bed, trying to maximize time spent in his dreams. In the kitchen sat his phone. It vibrated and blared a sound which cut through the otherwise meditative serenity. From whatever his dreams were we will never know, but what we do is that he soon was roused by the sound. Groaning and moaning, Luca pulled himself out of bed, looking as though he had been asleep 

His room was fairly empty. The floor was coated in a carpet that looked more like red grass than something one would want lining the floor of their living space. The walls appeared to be made from a coarse rock. Luca never knew why, but it always felt to him that whenever he gazed too long into the pores of the rock that part of his essence was being stolen from him. Laura would always dismiss this wherever he brought it up, opting to brew him a hot cup of tea to fill the void left by the walls’ menacing vampirism. Not in the mood for tea or a feeling of emptiness, Luca fixed his eyes to the floor and made his way out of the room.

Across the hall was Laura’s room. The door stood as an imposing dam against the flow of the corridor. Its presence sent shivers down Luca’s spine despite the questionable desire in him to explore what lay beyond the boundary it tried so hard to establish. Luca stood in front of the door for a long while, reaching his hand out multiple times but fighting the idea to enter his sister’s room.

Eventually he managed to rip himself away from the cold embrace of the door. Instead, he turned his attention to the kitchen. He never remembered setting the phone in there but then again, Luca has forgotten many things which he should have remembered. He tried opening the door but it was no use, the door was stuck.

Luca, having some level of restraint, peered through the keyhole. The kitchen was dimly lit, the only light streaming in through a window. The counter sat in the center of the room, on which sat Luca’s phone.

On top of the blaring of his ringtone, which was a song that slowly tore away at Luca’s patience the longer it insisted upon playing, there was a constant, rhythmic rattling.which, if it didn’t pose a risk to the countertop, posed a risk to the integrity of the screen. Luca pondered ramming the door open, but decided the door didn’t deserve to be broken today. 

As Luca stood in front of the kitchen door scratching his head of shaggy hair, occasionally pulling out knots in deep contemplation, a conspiracy of ravens perched themselves on the railing which sat just beyond the glass barrier. The ravens were perplexed at the sight of Luca seemingly doing nothing at the kitchen door, and out of what must have been a desire to be entertained, called out in anger to him. The calls of the foul fowls made Luca jump towards the direction of the window. 

Moving subtly, Luca made his way to the window. The air grew chilly rapidly. The minute movements of the forest below slowed to a crawl. The clouds of mist which formed from the ground so far below his feet appeared as a still frame rather than the dynamic phenomena they had been previously. The birds cocked their heads to the side, observing how time seemingly had stopped in its tracks, beckoning Luca to come to them.

Luca resisted the pull of the ravens, marching back to the kitchen door. There was a window on the other side of the kitchen, and then it dawned on Luca: if the railing trailed to the other side of the house he could use it to get into the kitchen. He dashed to the window again, He fumbled to get the window open, a procedure that had a difficulty more comparable to that of squaring a circle than something so mundane as opening a window. After what felt like an eternity, the window opened up to the point where Luca could fit himself through it. Just as he found himself on the other side of the window, Luca heard a soul crushing thud and felt a massive gust of wind.

The window wouldn’t open again. It mattered not how much he screamed and cried, the window remained locked. The window repeatedly ignored his pleas, and as a result Luca was forced to continue his quest to retrieve the phone.

The walk from the living room to the other side of the house was quite a journey. What Luca thought would only be five minutes of walking took what felt like nearly an hour, an hour of walking through uncharacteristically strong wind. After almost collapsing from exhaustion, Luca opened the window to the kitchen, only to discover it wasn’t anything like the destination he hoped to reach.


	2. Falling Out of Reality

The room was only lit from the light that forced itself in through the window. Even with the window acting as a light source the room felt unsettlingly liminal. The air inside felt stagnant and smelled like a mix of all the worst elements of mildew, mold, and petrichor while the floor felt like it hadn’t been touched in centuries. As Luca stepped onto what he thought was carpet he wrenched his toe away from the floor as if it had been secretly lava the entire time.

The floor was coated in a thick layer of dust. While dust normally is gross for being mostly composed of human skin, this dust had the peculiar property of feeling like it was made of energy. The feeling could be tolerated but it was still not the most pleasant sensation. Luca’s toe felt like it had gone numb, like movement itself became uncomfortable. Luca braced himself and lowered himself back into the room and as he was fully inside the window slammed back into place. He was once again trapped.

In the center of the menacingly dark chamber, a light switch dangled from the ceiling. The cord was a long, beaded chain with a fake, glass jewel at the end, something practically begging to be pulled. Luca stomped through the dust, almost losing his balance along the way, and pulled the cord.

As the light flicked on the powder quickly vaporized. The resulting gas smelled like burnt sugar and newly pressed plastic. A path formed in front of Luca as a hallway pulled itself from the darkness it was shrouded in. Noting the path ahead of him, Luca nervously inched himself down the corridor. The sound of each step he took down the hall reverberated a sound similar to a hushed whisper. 

Luca paused his journey and looked over his shoulder. To his horror what was at most ten feet of hall had contorted into a path where the entrance was a dot miles behind him. Luca started turning back towards the beginning but no matter how fast he ran he seemed to make no progress on escaping the clutches of the hallway.

Upon directing his energy back towards moving deeper into the depths of what he once knew as his home, Luca’s journey became much less sisyphean in nature. At the end of the hall emerged a large steel door which looked so strong that it could survive a nuclear blast. On the door, a small, bronze plaque rested along with a warning painted directly onto the door itself in a heavily chipped enamel paint. 

The plaque was engraved in two languages, only one of which Luca could even hope to understand. The plaque said as follows, “A memento to the conclusion of Experiment #706 and #707 which was funded by our great and glorious leader, M. Yankovic. Long live Mintana and long live our glorious leader!”

Luca ignored the plaque momentarily in favor of the buzzing he heard from the end of the hallway. To Luca’s horror, the dot in the distance that marked the exit to the corridor of doom had vanished entirely. To make matters worse, the lights which lit his path one by one began to go out. Terrified of being shrouded in darkness Luca knew what he had to do.

With all his strength, Luca forced the door open just as the darkness caught up to him. With the slam of a door, Luca was now safe.

The room he found himself in was, unlike the previous hallway and entryway, in a state which bore the appearance of having been recently used. In its center was a large tube with a thick glass door. Behind the tube was an array of monitors with a window frame in the center, its glass was replaced with what seemed to be a flipped over tablet of some kind. The monitors displayed different rooms in a grainy image quality and, peculiarly enough, a dark forest path. 

After examining the display, Luca was gravitated towards the tube. It seemed calling him and as he opened the door he could see why. Within the tube sat a grid of buttons, knobs, and switches as well as a massive red lever. Above the buttons sat a low resolution monitor which displayed the interior of the tube, updating its display in real time.

The dials were marked with contrasting colors and symbols but that didn’t matter since the image on screen refused to change despite Luca’s persistent fiddling with them. Despite no progress being made on that front Luca continued the fruitless endeavor for longer than any intelligent person should have. Out of frustration, Luca smacked the walls of the tube. The sounds that followed, while quiet, seemed so loud that the waves sliced through the air. 

The lever was jostled out of place and slammed down. As the lever clicked into place the door slammed shut and would not open back up no matter how much Luca tried to break it open. The world outside the tube started to spin and turn to light and just as it started it was over. The door to the tube opened up again, but Luca was no longer inside the tube.


	3. The Girl in the Attic

Simone gazed longingly out her window, the factory across the street seemed like a hollow husk to her and the city around it slowly going to sleep portrayed an aura which drained the energy from her like a plug being lifted from a basin. It had been hours since she last tried calling her friend with only silence in response.

“Maybe he was busy...” Simone thought while doing her best to look away from her phone. She knew it wasn’t true. Despite how little she knew about Luca outside of the small details he divulged in their conversations, she knew that it was extremely unlikely he had much else to do. 

Simone caved and checked her phone again. She didn’t know what she was expecting, her phone still showed no new messages. As she moved to set her phone back down she received a new notification, not from Luca but from a hidden number.

Hidden Number: Congratulations, you have been invited to the Antide Group Chat, “The Canyon”!

Simone dismissed the notification and went back to staring at the window. Probably just a piece of useless spam again. The majority of messages of that type were deposited right into the trash but this message felt peculiar. It demanded to be read; no matter how many times she tried recycling it, it would not let itself be discarded. Despite her tendency to keep her phone more organized than a museum catalogue, she left the message where it was, even though it slowly dug into her mind.

As soon as she reached the window again, she received yet another notification which was accompanied by a ringtone, she was being called. Simone threw herself back over to her phone and quickly answered the call.

ScientificKilljoy: Luca where the hell have you been! I’ve been trying to reach you for-

DangerousMenace: Calm down Simone, it’s just me!

ScientificKilljoy: DAMMIT! 

DangerousMenace: Jesus! And you say I could stand to be nicer.

ScientificKilljoy: Oh piss off! I’ve been trying to call Luca all day and quite frankly I’m worried about him.

DangerousMenace: No luck on my end either. It sucks since I really needed to tell him something.

ScientificKilljoy: Really? What did you need to tell him?

DangerousMenace: Did that beast you call a parent ever teach you manners? Besides, it's not something I’d be comfortable telling YOU over the phone. I’m at-

ScientificKilljoy: Take that back this instant! Libby is just as human as you and me, they just have a skin condition. That’s all.  
DangerousMenace: Okay then what is the condition? You’ve used that excuse so many freaking times that it's laughable.

ScientificKilljoy: Well it’s the truth. Call me insane or uneducated all you want. Libby is human, not a beast or whatever degrading thing you want to shovel onto them today.

DangerousMenace: Ugh, whatever. Look I was going to say, before you cut me off, that I’m behind the factory. I need to tell you something so please come ASAP!

ScientificKilljoy: But…

DangerousMenace: Come on, it’s not like you have anything else to do today anyways! I’ve also set up a firepit, it’ll be fun.

ScientificKilljoy: Fine. I’ll be down in a few minutes.

Simone tucked the phone in her pocket and left her room. She began to prepare to meet DM and hopefully forget about his outburst earlier in their conversation.


	4. The Man who was Forgotten by the World

Simone wandered the halls thinking of anything she might possibly need for her rendezvous with DangerousMenace. Her mind fluttered to things beyond her current circumstances. This made itself especially evident when she walked into a forbidden room by accident. Normally she followed what few instructions Libby, her caretaker and guardian, gave to a tee, but this must have been the one exception for Simone. 

“Hey Metis, can you distract Libby for me I gotta sneak out-” Simone was forced back to reality as tears trickled down her face, “Oh yeah, I forgot...”

It had been years since her older brother went missing. DM always had been an asshole but he always made sure never to attack the character of someone who meant so much to Simone, or maybe he forgot he existed. Maybe the world forgot. It was the world’s determination to erase the existence of Metis Yankovic Kreel that made Simone wish to keep his memory alive.

Simone was actually surprised DM actively avoided speaking negatively about Metis. Despite him being a cool person to be around the appearance he possessed looked less than human. He appeared to be a blend of a humanoid reptile and what the group DM frequented would describe as a “Child of Oculus” which was their way of describing what most would recognize as a plain, old vanilla human.

Simone decided to explore the room while she still could. The room was organized in a way one could only describe as orderly chaos. While the floor remained free of food waste, a small mountain of dirty clothes was built up near the foot of his bed. The desk had a cluttered array of books and notes scattered in a circular pattern around the chair. Upon further investigation, Simone found a pile of crumpled up papers scattered under the desk. 

Simone shuffled over to Metis’s bed and threw herself onto it, sending four years of built up dust into the air. A metallic thud could be heard as her head smacked the pillow. Simone groaned as she lifted her head from the sorry excuse for a cushion.

The pillow, once removed from its case, appeared to have been obscuring a metal tackle box. The box was almost painfully cold as Simone ran her hand along its edges, its rusted corners felt similar to how one would describe sandpaper or fiberglass. After hesitating to do so initially, Simone popped open the box.

The container was filled with an assortment of pictures, notes, ticket stubs, and a single audio cassette. The contents of the box were neatly organized and were wrapped with numerous layers of shrink wrap to protect them from the elements. Below the tape was a pre-addressed envelope to “Dante Portinari” with postage indicating a small parcel was to be sent instead of a simple letter. 

Simone pocketed the tape and decided maybe she could investigate the contents with DM and took the box with her.


	5. The Guardian of Tranquility

Makhno rose from where they had been resting. A sensation of swelling could be felt on the side of their face. 

“Oh yeah...” they remembered, “I hit my head last night. I thought the injury would have healed by now, though.”

The room they were in was different from anywhere they had lived or seen. Its walls were covered in a thick fabric which resembled couch cushions and were an enchanting shade of violet with shimmering gold thread joining the edges of each fabric square. They noticed the object they were sleeping on was not the bed they always used but rather an enormous sofa which faced a similar piece of furniture.

“Where the hell am I?” Maknho asked themselves, only then having become aware of their current surroundings.

Makno noticed the nightgown they had worn to bed that night had become a flowing white gown. The aura of the room felt peculiar, like this was the safest place they’d ever find themselves, like it would be impossible for them to die here.

In the blink of an eye someone appeared on the couch opposite of Makhno. The person seemed to have been an impossibly old woman, so old that Makhno questioned if her body had already started to decompose. Other than the peculiarities previously mentioned, nothing seemed out of the ordinary about the woman other than the congealed spheres of red sludge which composed her eyes.

Despite her ghoulishly horrific aesthetic, Makhno couldn’t bring themselves to fear the being. The woman felt almost motherly to them, as if she was the living embodiment of the room they currently occupied. The guardian of tranquility.

“Good evening Miss Makhno, what brings you to my sanctuary?” 

Makhno shuddered at the use of the word “Miss” to describe them. What’s next, that creature using their first name as if hearing it didn’t make Makhno want to rip their hair out.

“Oh dear, my bad! I should have known. I mean, that’s why you called for me right?” The creature gained an expression of the utmost contrition, puppy dog eyes had no match for the face this monstrosity was trying to create. Before Makhno could get a word in, the lady started talking again.

“Where are my manners! I haven’t even introduced myself to you yet; you must be so confused. My name is well… My real name originates from a mother tongue so old and archaic that no human could possibly pronounce it, but feel free to call me Linda!” 

Seeing the opportunity left for them, Makhno decided now would be the best time to get a word in.

“Before you mentioned me having called you. What did you mean by that because I’ve never seen you before in my life?”

Linda shifted forward in her seat and flashed a grin. 

“I’ve never had a passenger so observant. My dear, of course you didn’t know who I was; none of my passengers know who I am the first time around. You don’t need to know of me to still send a request for my services...”

“What services? I didn’t ask anything of a monster like you! Do you really think I would stoop so low?”

“I’ll kindly ignore that dig at my appearance since I decided millenia ago that I’d stop murdering my passengers, but if you knew the potential of what I could provide you then you’d walk back that nasty temper...”

“You still didn’t answer my question!”

“Maybe I’d answer the damn question if you’d quit interrupting little old me!”

“Okay, I’ll be quiet...”

The two sofas moved further apart and a coffee table rose from the floor. In the middle of the table a tea set materialized. 

“Go on my child, whatever your favorite beverage is, the teapot will provide. I never enjoy negotiating my services without a good drink.”

Makhno awkwardly grabbed the teapot, not expecting the teapot to feel as heavy as a bowling ball. From the spout of the teapot poured, not tea, but eggnog.

“Don’t get your hopes up darling, I can’t have my passengers getting drunk. I had to remove all the rum from that cocktail of yours.”

Makhno sighed, they hoped they could pass this hallucinatory acid trip of a night off as just something they dreamed while blacked out. 

“Now then, let’s talk about what I can do for YOU. I know you’ve been having issues with yourself, I mean you’re, what, a butch straight girl?”

“I don’t mean to butt in but that’s not how I’d put it...”

“Of course that isn’t, my little puppet. I know everything about you, why would I get this detail wrong? I just like to have my passengers say what they want on their own, seeing them squirm at having their lives so inaccurately described is just a little bonus for me. So, go on, tell me what it is that you truly desire.”

“I… I want… I want to be… a guy.”


	6. A Family Reunion

Luca slowly came to as he found himself inside a long, metal tunnel. The tunnel had grooved walls which each contained a light bulb which emitted just enough light to illuminate the path forward, but not enough light to make out much else. The further Luca walked down the corridor the more small physical pains made themselves apparent.

The skin on his lower back felt painfully tight, as though something was jabbing its way through his flesh. Despite the intense pressure in that region, his flesh seemed more than happy to cooperate with the orders given by his skeleton. Without warning Luca’s skin began to feel uncomfortably itchy, as if a wire brush was being softly rubbed down its surface. 

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Luca swore to himself softly as he scratched into his flesh as he moved deeper into the depths of the tunnel. At the end of its long expanse Luca could hear a loud rumbling and the screeching of tires. The sound echoed in a cacophonous melody which only grew more intense as time passed. That was when it dawned on Luca, he was being chased.

Luca mustered up as much energy as he could and bolted back where he came from only to discover a giant locked door which had no way of being opened manually. As Luca understood resistance was futile, he turned around to meet what were the blinding lights of a heavily armored SUV.

Luca put his hands above his head and just as he began to beg, the lights switched off and the vehicle’s engine ceased its deafeningly loud hum. With the SUV stopped a familiar figure stepped from the vehicle and beckoned Luca towards them.

“Relax bud. I ain’t gonna hurt you. Just hop in and I’ll explain everything on the way.”

Luca hesitated, but seeing no other alternative, Luca hopped inside.Luca was relieved to see that inside the vehicle was none other than his older sister, Laura. Once Luca properly strapped himself in, Laura turned around and barreled back through the tunnel at top speed.

Laura was rather annoyed with Luca. While her expression and demeanor seemed laid back, she didn’t want to have to explain Luca’s entire life to him as if she played a minimal role. She didn’t want to have to come clean about how she had been lying to him for the majority of his life. She didn’t want to explain that she wasn’t actually his sister.

“Laura, what's happening to me? My back hurts, I itch everywhere, and my brain feels like it is being overloaded. Why won’t it stop?”

Luca was shaking heavily and had eyes which communicated the utmost fear. Tears streamed down his face as his body continued its quest of betrayal. Luca began to smack his head with his hands as if he were attempting to remove water from his ears.

Laura glanced over at Luca nervously, the transformation was happening quicker than she expected. She pressed her foot down on the gas pedal even harder. This was not the place to explain this. If she could get him to the infirmary quick enough then maybe this could be a less painful experience for the both of them. Literally for Luca and emotionally for her.

Eventually the two got out of the armored car and Laura rushed Luca over to the blindingly sterile room that was the infirmary.


	7. The Lies of Luca's Mother

The infirmary was what you would expect from a place meant to take care of the sick and wounded: bright lights, white floors and walls, an adequate stock of pain killers of multiple varieties, plenty of cots, and (weirdly enough) an enormous mirror which spanned the entire area of one of the walls.

The nurse who was monitoring the station for the night nearly jumped over their desk as Laura rushed Luca into their clinic. As they rushed over to a semi-lucid Luca, Laura scowled and began to bark orders at them.

“Get some B-Class sedatives and painkillers into his system, stat! His file is at the top of the cabinet! Hurry, the withdrawal symptoms have already begun to kick in!”

Laura guided Luca over to the nearest cot. Luca began to mumble to himself and drool heavily, seemingly ready for the medicine to enter his system. The nurse came over to Laura and gently pressed the implement into her hand.

“Just press the syringe into his shoulder, the drugs should kick in shortly.”

Laura nodded and followed the instructions, stroking the edge of Luca’s face as it went limp. She let out a small whimper as his face became more like the one she knew so many years before.

“Good night, sweet prince.”

The night passed as the effects of being outside of the reach of the tower’s control became more pronounced. Luca’s ears became more engorged and a pair of cat-like ears sprouted above his forehead. The previously greyish-brown of Luca’s hair began to change into a soft navy blue and a thin layer of white fur coated every inch of his skin that wasn’t the skin on his inner arms and face. Luca’s nails, teeth, and bones were all tinted a deep shade of cobalt instead of their shades of beige. The source of Luca’s back pain ended up branching into a wildly furry tail which sprouted out of the gown Luca was changed into.

Luca eventually woke back up, doing what one normally would upon rising from the depths of slumber: stretching his arms, yawning, groaning, and wondering where he was for a brief period of time. Laura and the nurse were talking in another room, unaware of the fact that Luca was now awake. As Luca became more focused he noticed his finger nails, then fur-coated arms, and could feel his tail angrily smack the bed.

Luca bolted towards the mirror and stared at himself in shock. Why did this happen? Was he cursed to be a monster? The energy bottled up in Luca’s mind seemed to have been on its tipping point, as he let out an involuntarily loud scream and fell to his knees. In response to the disturbance, the nurse and Laura rushed into the room.

“I see you’re awake,” Laura said as she leaned down to touch his shoulder. 

This, of course, was a mistake for her. Luca shrieked again and Laura’s hand was zapped with a wave of sparks.

“Don’t touch me. I’m hideous. A freak. I might spread it to you.”

Laura sighed. She knew she would have to get around to explaining this fact about him eventually, but she was hoping there could be some way around it. Maybe if she had gotten him back to the tower before he woke up the effects of the transformation could be reversed, but it was too late. There was no turning back now. Luca had to know.

“You aren’t a freak. You always have been this way, bud. I just made you look more human than you otherwise would have been...”

“YOU LIED TO ME!” Luca was enraged. Sparks were flying in the air around him. The clinic was rumbling. This wasn’t good.

“It was for your sake. If I left you as one of them then you would ask a lot of questions. If I answered them before you were ready then...”

“THEN WHAT?!”

“Look, there’s no easy way to say this but… I’m not your sister.”

“Then what are you then? Did you take me from my family or something?”

Laura struggled to hold back her tears. The last thing Luca needed was to see her cry. Not now. Not here.

“Luca, this isn’t easy to say but, I’m your mother. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, I wanted to protect you. I couldn’t lose you, not after she and your father…”

“What of them?” Luca’s mind seemingly calmed down as the room stopped trembling and the flurry of sparks in the air fizzled out. “Wait, who’s ‘her’?”

Laura crossed her arms, sighed, and rolled her eyes. 

“So you’ll finally be willing to listen to me?”

Luca nodded and everyone moved back over to the cots as the floor was beginning to feel fairly unpleasant. Everyone, even the nurse who probably had more important work to be doing, made themselves comfortable as Laura began to relay the hidden truth of their lives.


	8. The Deal

Makhno was trembling. He had just come out to an otherworldly entity. Even if the entity had his best interests at heart and emitted an aura similar to that of a parental figure, such an action wouldn’t have been easy for him to do with his own mother, let alone a demonic creature like Linda. 

As Makhno started to softly cry to himself a lanky man in a violet suit entered the room. The man seemed different from Linda. Could it be? Could there be another mortal soul in this place? Could the man be human?

“Oh my apologies, dear. This is Mr. Lovecraft! He’s one of the many helpers I have recruited to aid in my meddlings with humanity.”

Makhno looked at the man’s face. He seemed perturbed by being mentioned in such a direct fashion. His eyes darted around the room, trying to look at anything other than Makhno. In an attempt to break the tension that was forming between them, Makhno decided to ask what appeared to be a simple question.

“So, uh… what was your deal? Like why are you here?”

Lovecraft looked offended by the question. Linda began chuckling to herself. Said chuckling eventually grew into a fit of hysterical laughter.

“Mr. Lovecraft was experiencing a fit of writer’s block. Although he had a bit of a problem with other people and new things. In order to aid his writing I made him aid me in my work to bring the desires of humanity to fruition!”

“What’s the catch?”

“He is not allowed to speak to the passengers!” Linda smirked devilishly. She had to be aware of how cruel she was being right now, introducing Makhno to someone who couldn’t reply to anything he said to him.

“Come on, dearie. The man was absolutely vile! He should honestly be thankful I gave him a job at all. Isn’t that right Howard?”

Lovecraft glared at Linda. He reluctantly then sat a pad of paper and a pen down on the table and made his exit from the room.

Makhno glanced at the pad of paper and then the pen. He shook a little in his seat. 

“Don’t worry. If my thought readings come back okay then I’ll waive the tithe for this request, alright. Even then your tithe wouldn’t be nearly as bad as his.”

Linda put the palm of her hand on Makhno’s forehead. Aside from it feeling extremely frigid, Makhno could feel his thoughts being rummaged through, as though his mind was a trashed library or an emptied filing cabinet. 

Linda’s face contorted into a slight frown. Before Makhno could understand what was happening, he felt a jolt of force shock his face. Makhno flinched away from Linda, grasping the sides of his head, and reeling with pain.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?”

Linda crossed her arms.

“You seemed so innocent to me, dearie. I thought when you were wishing from the deepest valleys of your heart to be a boy that you wouldn’t be bringing this kind of baggage with you! I hoped we could just get this over with, but I would only be thinking that if you weren’t a Nazi!”

Makhno rolled his eyes. Never before had he been called such an outlandish thing. 

“Don’t give me that look! I know that whole song and dance of ‘the Nazis were destroyed when the Eurasian Communist Party took over and formed a union state with the USSR’ but I’m not buying it! The founding members of your little club were Nazis in exile!”

“Is wanting to keep humanity safe from those horrific beasts such a crime? Even if what you said was true I am not a member of the Humanitarian Brotherhood yet anyways...”

An evil smile tore its way across Linda’s face. She cocked her head to the side and let out a cacophony of snickering.

“And, darling, why might that be? Why can’t you, as you so eloquently put it, protect humanity from those horrific beasts?”

Makhno fidgeted in his seat, picking at the gown he was wearing. He hesitated to answer the inquiry, he could see the trap Linda was trying to pull. Then again, Linda had previously said she liked seeing her passengers squirm, so Makhno figured he had better rip this band-aid off fast.

“Only men are allowed to join! I said it, are you happy?”

“Very. Dearie, instead of me proving to you exactly why that group should be avoided like the plague, I’ll cut you a deal. I’ll make you into the manliest man I can and send you on your way.”

“The catch?”

“Fine! The catch is that your transition won’t be perfect, not all of those negative feelings you have about yourself will just vanish into thin air. You’ll have to work through that on your own. Although, you probably already knew that. Let’s cut to the chase darling, if you say yes to this, the person you will spend the rest of your life with will be different…”

“What do you mean by different, needlessly cryptic hag?!”

“Well apart from the fact that you are going to become a gay man, your future husband will have…unorthodox biology.”

“What do you mean by that; I would have ‘unorthodox biology’ according to most people. Can’t you just get to the damn point already!”

“Man, you really are a hotheaded bastard, huh?”

Makhno refused to comment on that. Most of Linda’s offer seemed appealing but that last point was crawling under his skin. 

“Your significant other will not be what someone like you would think is human.”

Makhno looked at the wall. His mind was mulling over everything. Why would he let himself fall for a guy that was a beast?

“That wouldn’t be my doing, I simply have access to the future, your future. I don’t have all the information here and some spots are quite fuzzy, but I can say for certain you entered a relationship with him of your own free will. I mean, you certainly aren’t wanting to do this just to join a hate group, right?”

Linda made a compelling point. If his will to become a guy was on a level that was outside his mind then that strange bit of history really shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for him, especially if that future version of himself knew what he was getting into.

“Where do I sign?”

Linda handed the notepad and pen to Makhno, a lengthy contract was already written out. As if it had been written long before their conversation had taken place. That didn’t matter to Makhno as in one fluid motion he signed his name, his new name. Before he could take another look at Linda, the world around Makhno faded to a blur and then nothing. He was awake again.


	9. Who Is Really In Control Here?

Simone had to pass through the lower floors of the building to make her exit. Her living situation was rather strange in that she technically lived in the attic of a library. As implied by the name “Libby” her guardian was the caretaker of said library, being officially titled “The Librarian”. As Simone had previously predicted, Libby was sitting behind the front desk waiting to be disturbed by a patron. Simone ducked behind a row of shelves in an attempt to sneak out unnoticed but this attempt proved to be futile as Libby called out to her.

“Zhmane, what are you doing?”

Simone tensed up. She had been discovered. Furthermore, Libby could sense the deception at play, as hinted by their use of the culturally accurate pronunciation of her name. Simone hesitated and shakily replied.

“Uh- Nothing important…”

Libby sighed and gestured for Simone to come to the desk. Simone obeyed the command reluctantly, almost dragging her feet as she approached Libby.

“You’re going to see Dimitri, aren’t you?”

Simone’s eyes darted away from Libby and then she shook her head in response to the question. Libby slammed their gloved fist on the desk. They shook their hand after that happened, in their attempt to express parental authority they slammed their hand down too hard. Any of the tension in the room was immediately vaporized.

“You okay?”

Libby glanced back up at Simone, embarrassed at their blunder.

“I-I’m fine. Have fun out there, okay. Just be honest with me next time, okay.”

Libby stood up, their presence towering several feet above Simone. They had to have been at least eight feet tall, but despite their size and effort to seem like a strict parent, Libby was more of a gentle giant. Even though Simone never caught a glimpse of what Libby looked like under the heavy cloak and scarf, it was almost impossible for Simone to take them seriously as a parental authority. Even so, after Metis had vanished from their lives she decided it would be best to at least pretend someone competent was looking after her.

Libby made their way towards the stairwell and called out to Simone as they began their climb.

“Make sure to lock the door behind you okay! You know where the key is. Be careful out there, okay!”

Simone rolled her eyes and replied.

“I’ll be fine. Just let me know if I need to get anything while I’m out.”

As Simone glanced back at Libby for the last time that night, she exited the Library.

Libby weaved through the many hallways of the Library. They snickered to themselves as they approached a hidden room.

“Gullible as always,” they thought, “Needed her out of the way for the night anyways.”


	10. A Story About Laura's Father: Part 1

Years in the past, a young Laura was being tucked into bed by her father. The man had bandages all over his body and always wore a heavy cloak to keep them in place as he did the work required to maintain the vessel they lived in. Despite the man being her dad, he never disclosed this information to Laura, opting to be seen as just a friend who was looking after her. Even with this in mind, he only let her refer to him by one nickname.

“Com?” Laura asked hesitantly.

“Yes?” Com replied.

“What was Dad like?”

The question made Com freeze up. He had hoped she would forget about her other father. He had died when she was so young, maybe she found something she wasn’t supposed to, maybe she overheard a conversation with one of the older crewmates, or maybe she never forgot him in the first place. There was no use avoiding the inquiry. If he didn’t answer it now then she would just ask again another day and the cycle would repeat until he could no longer give a correct answer. Com sat at the edge of Laura’s bed and began to give an explanation. 

“You want to know about you father, huh? Well he was… amazing.”

Com paused as he tried to remember more clearly.

“When you were born people were wondering who the mother was but the truth is, he was so powerful that he created you from sheer willpower…”

Laura giggled slightly and shook her head. She was clearly skeptical.

“I should know Pumpkin, our… friendship was so close he let me see it first hand. I’m sure you’d want to hear about something more interesting like how helped liberate people on a far away planet.”

Laura’s eyes widened. Even if she knew there were a lot of embellishments, this beat the bedtime stories Com usually told.

“First, to lead an army to victory like he did, one would need an incredibly powerful arsenal. The most powerful weapon he had is right in this very room.”

Laura’s eyes began to dart around feverishly, looking for something that could even qualify as a deadly implement. 

“You probably won’t be able to find it. It doesn’t look like anything particularly deadly but…”

Com got up off the side of the bed and reached towards a shelf on the other side of the room. He was successful in grabbing the black and white handle of what appeared to be an umbrella, the tip of it coated in a faint reddish-brown.

“You wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of this puppy… ”

“Com that’s not a puppy, it’s an umbrella!” Laura managed to make herself laugh with that statement. Com went over and ruffled her hair.

“It’s not, you’re right on that. A puppy certainly couldn’t do this.”

Com pulled a trigger on its handle and in a flurry of mechanical rearrangement, the umbrella had morphed into a revolver. As to prevent himself from accidentally firing the gun, Com reverted it back to its original state. 

“This wasn’t something your old man could just go pick up at a shop, the gods gave it to him after he proved to them he was worthy to wield its power. The weapon has always existed and will always exist, any copies you find are either fakes or simply versions of it at a different point in its timeline.

Your father knew that the weapon would eventually escape his grasp and land in the hands of the enemy. That is why he would always keep it hidden in the one place they would never dare to look…”

Com looked down and noticed Laura had fallen asleep. When this happened he was not sure, but all he knew was that he would need to continue this story some other time. Com leaned down and kissed Laura on the forehead, shut the lights off, and shut the door, leaving Laura’s room for his own.


	11. The Rendezvous

The alley by the old factory was dark and had weeds growing through cracks in the pavement. The alley was cluttered with garbage left by those too lazy to dispose of their litter properly. Once Simone looped back behind the building to her and Dimitri’s usual meeting spot, a cleared out space could be seen with a bricked fire pit sitting in the center. 

Dimitri could be seen attempting to light a fire. Behind him, leaning against a boarded up door, was his motorcycle with a beaten up satchel hanging from the seat. Dimitri glanced up at Simone and went back to trying to light a fire.

“I thought you would take a little longer.”

“I would have been quicker, but I had a bit of a moment with Libby. Anyways, once we get this fire going I have something you need to see.” Simone glanced at Dimitri failing to keep the lighter lit and snatched it out of his hand. Dimitri frowned.

“Hey!”

“If I let you do it, we’ll die of old age.” Simone effortlessly activated the lighter and lowered it into the pit. Dimitri grumbled at the sight of her success. 

“I loosened the hammer for you,” Dimitri said. Simone rolled her eyes at the statement.

“Sure you did, buddy.” Simone tossed the lighter back to Dimitri and pulled Metis’s box out from under her hoodie. Before Simone could bring up the contents of the box, Dimitri began to speak with a hint of suppressed nervousness in his voice.

“Let’s get right to the point, I needed to talk about Luca. After that, we can get to what you brought, I’m sure it is very interesting.” Dimitri grabbed a flask from his bag stopping before he could unscrew the cap, “You don’t mind if I drink here, do you? I don’t think I could get half of this shit off my chest if I were sober.”

Simone nodded and before she could even blink her eyes Dimitri took a massive swig. Even though he was a habitual drinker, his tolerance for alcohol was fairly low. Already, after what was only a relatively small amount of liquor, he gave the appearance of having a slight buzz. 

“Why did you want to talk about this in person, I don’t get it. Even then, you’re better friends with him than you are with me, so why wouldn’t you be able to…”

“OH MY GOD SIMONE, SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Simone immediately stopped talking and gave him room to speak.

“He’s-sh cute ain’t he?” Dimitri slurred. His face began to turn red, either due to the buzz turning to full on intoxication or the information slipping from his mind being sufficiently personal; it was probably a combination of both.

“Well I mean he probably is someone’s type. Although, he isn’t mine if that’s what you’re getting at. Did you drag me here just to ask if I was attracted to him?” Simone asked obliviously. Dimitri was not amused by this.

“How dumb are ya? I couldn’ care less if you like ‘im! I was-sh saying that I think he’s-sh fuckin adorable! I’m gay, do I have to write it on my f-forehead or somethin’?”

“Dimitri, I think you’ve probably had too much to drink. You probably haven’t met the right girl yet…”

“You know how many times I’ve been told that shit! Your bigoted ass, HIC, might think yer so sh-smart, but I have another thing I wanted to sh-say…”

“WAIT! Who are you calling bigoted? I’m not the one who is in a Nazi paramilitary group.”

“Well, if you wouldn’t interrupt me, maybe I’d explain.”


	12. A New Arrival

Makhno’s eyes opened slowly. The joints in his neck felt like someone took a bat to each of them. He could see the world spinning and his vision blurred slightly. After a minute or two, his vision cleared. He soon discovered he had been sleeping, not in his bed but in a seat on a bus. Guess that explains the neck pain.

Makhno noticed that a leather bag sat at his side. It seemed stuffed to the brim with clothes, snacks, and other things one might need if planning to leave one’s home for an extended period of time. After getting a moment to assess the situation he was in, he noticed his attire.

“How the hell did Sylvia let me out of the house looking like this?” Makhno thought to himself, feeling the edges of the flannel shirt he was wearing.

Feeling an itch run up his spine, Makhno reached to itch it instead feeling a noticeable absence as he felt the skin of his back. Thinking that maybe his bra was just weirdly crafted, he poked at his chest, the baggy fabric his shirt collapsed to his chest instead. Quickly glancing to make sure nobody else in the immediate vicinity was staring at him, he repeated the action receiving a duplicated result. 

“I- I- I’m- HOLY SHIT THAT WAS REAL! That dream was real. Does that mean…” As Makhno pondered these thoughts he looked around again before lowering his hand to his pelvis. Hoping to touch something more phallic in nature, he felt a bunched up sock press up against him. Before he could react to this revelation, he could feel someone plop into the seat beside him.

“Look, I’m not exactly the most modest dude on the planet, but maybe you should wait a few hours before jacking off on the bus.”

The voice seemed like that of a man, it was hard to tell as a leather cloak shielded most of his body from view. His hands were bandaged but left room for his long, black nails to jab through the gauze. 

“I-” Makhno had to try to speak again as he only now discovered his voice had deepened since he last spoke with Linda, “I just had a small itch; I’m sorry if it looked that way...”

The man snickered and threw off the hood of his cloak, revealing a head of flowing white hair, scaly skin, and two horns poking through his forehead. For the sake of respectability, Makhno tried not to look disgusted at the reality that there was no way this man was human.

“Dude, it’s fine, I was just messing with you. It’s not like I’d care anyways, you’re cute enough for me to be fine looking the other way. At most it would just be a funny story to tell my boyfriend later.”

Makhno was blushing. Was this guy seriously flirting with him? They had only just met and (as the man had said himself) he had a boyfriend back home. 

“Oh my, I’m so sorry. I don’t think I’ve introduced myself yet. My name is Metis Yankovic Kreel and you are…”

Metis stared at Makhno, expecting an answer. Makhno scrambled to find the name he gave Linda, the name he used to sign the contract. He finally landed on something he felt comfortable calling himself.

“My name is Dimitri Makhno, nice to meet you Metis.”

Metis ran his eyes up and down Dimitri in a way which most would consider creepy coming from a complete stranger. Even then this was less of a way of expressing Metis’s general, omnipresent friskiness and more of him trying to jog his memory on who Dimitri was.

“Are you from around here, Dimitri?”

“What would make you ask such a thing?”

“Well, everyone around here knows everyone. Even if most of our secrets are still secrets, new faces and names aren’t that common,” Metis leaned close to Dimitri, trying to speak as quietly as possible, “I haven’t heard a name like yours, seen a face like yours, or even heard of you from other people. I think I would have heard if someone was expecting you, so you might as well come clean now: why are you here?”

Dimitri was stunned. It was as if Metis could see right through him. Even if Metis was just bluffing, Dimitri felt there was no use hiding his plans, even if his memory of them was hazy at best.

“I wanted to see if I could join the Humanitarian Brotherhood. Most cities usually have a branch and my village didn’t have one.”

A sinister smile extended across Metis’s face. 

“Well isn’t it your lucky day? My boyfriend can vouch for you, in the meantime I’ll ask my guardian if you can stay with me until everything gets sorted out. I’m sure they won’t mind.”


	13. The Hidden Booth

Dimitri reluctantly went with Metis. The last person he’d want to be seen with is anyone who looked even remotely like Metis. Metis was aware of this himself and made sure that his hood wouldn’t blow open for anyone too prominent to gaze at the scales that adorned his skin. The first stop on their journey was at The Blood Bucket, a local pub and hangout for low rank members of the brotherhood. 

Upon entering the building a wave of smells crashed on Dimitri like a tsunami on a small coastal town. The air was filled with a mix of body odor, cooked meat, and a tinge of ether. If any place came to mind where men who worshipped the concept of masculinity would decide to frequent, this would be such a place. A place that smelled of concentrated conventional masculinity, even though functionally the space wasn’t the most heterosexual in nature.

Metis led Dimitri over to a booth that was hidden from view from most of the patrons. Sitting in said booth was a man who seemed bored out of his mind. The man’s eyes lit up when he saw Metis approaching. This had to be the one who Metis had previously mentioned.

“Hey Dante, how’s everything?”

“What took you so long? I was here for half an hour waiting for you! You had me worried sick.”

Metis lowered his hood and the two lightly kissed and then briefly hugged.

“Oh please, I’m sure you had fun checking out the waiters here. We probably could have invited one of them to play with us again.”

Dante repeatedly glanced over to Dimitri.

“Speaking of invites, who’s the little dude you brought along with you? Did you finally catch on to my idea of us having a third?”

Dimitri grew red at the prospect, both with anger and embarrassment. It didn’t exactly help that Dante had poked fun at his height, something Linda had decided not to change when she changed his voice and chest.

“Oh no. This is Dimitri. He just rolled in from out of town and is hoping to join the brotherhood. Isn’t that right, Dimitri?”

Dimitri nervously nodded his head. Dante stared daggers at him, eventually stepping uncomfortably close to Dimitri.

“I don’t know what Metis told you, but what you saw here… you won’t tell a soul, got that! If any of the higher ups knew even half of what you saw just now I’d never be seen again. So keep this to yourself. All they think they know is that Metis has some medical problems, and if I have anything to say about it, it’ll stay that way.”

Dimitri feverishly nodded his head. Immediately after he was done talking, Dante stuck out his hand which Dimitri instinctively shook. 

“Consider yourself one of the brothers then. I’ve always wanted to mentor a new recruit, I hope I won’t disappoint you.”

The sudden change in tone caught Dimitri off guard, but, not wanting to offend a mentor figure, Dimitri shook Dante’s hand. The strength in Dante’s grip was more powerful than it looked. Dimitri tried to hide how much his hand ached afterwards, but Dante could see through the mask he put up.

“Such a weak grip. After you go through initiation that’s bound to change though.”

The three chatted and ordered food, eventually Metis remembered he had yet to ask Libby whether or not Dimitri could lodge with him until the Humanitarians let him in. That changed when Metis pulled out his phone and called them. Metis scowled when Libby picked up. 

“They say they want to speak to you first. I guess it isn’t too much to ask but we gotta get going if we want to be there before it's dark.”

Metis kissed Dante goodbye and showed Dimitri the way to his house.


	14. Falling Water With a Side of Claustrophobia

Simone was listening to Dimitri with all her strength. Her eyes were latched onto the flickering of the fire to act as B-Roll to the film he was directing in her head. Eventually though, Simone wondered about one thing. 

“Sorry to interrupt but, who is Sylvia?”

Dimitri groaned and clapped his hand to his forehead. 

“Who?”

Simone gave a bewildered expression. Did she ask a stupid question. If she did, she didn’t mean to, those types of questions are the worst type of question. Those who ask stupid questions have always been the bane of Simone’s existence. 

“You know, the person who you said would have disapproved of the clothes you wore when you first met Metis…”

“Oh yeah, her. Um, she was…”

Before Dimitri could finish his sentence an incredibly loud bang could be heard behind them. The two of them rushed over to the source of the sound only to make a horrifying discovery. The water tank, which had been previously perched on the roof of the factory, had fallen off of the building and landed in the alley, blocking their way out. Frantic from everything that just happened, Simone began to cry out.

“Help, somebody, help us!” 

It was no use. Her calls for help were heard by nobody. The tank was way too big for them to climb over it, they were trapped. Dimitri was pacing what little of the alley was left to walk in. Eventually figuring out a possible solution, Dimitri rifled through every pocket he could before running back to check his bag. 

“What the hell?”

Simone was puzzled by Dimitri’s actions.

“What are you doing?”

Dimitri frowned and turned back to her. Having sobered up a bit since his last drink, his mind was clear but the hangover was already beginning to set in.

“Can’t you read the situation we’re in? I’m looking for my goddamn phone! If I can get reception here then maybe I can call someone to come get us out.” Dimitri eventually grew desperate enough to empty the contents of his bag on the ground. His phone was nowhere to be seen.

“GODDAMMIT! I swore I had it on me! Simone, you got your phone on you?”

Simone checked the pockets in both her skirt and in her hoodie, she was able to find her phone after digging through the mountains of pencils and scraps of paper. Her effort was futile though, her phone had died during their conversation. Simone looked back up at Dimitri with a contrite expression. Their gazes immediately turned to the factory.

The door of the building was locked, but maybe if they could pry the boards from the windows they could get inside. Dimitri and Simone grabbed the edges of each plank and with little to no effort, the nails were ripped from the edges of the window. Eventually the window itself fell out of its slot, giving plenty of room for someone to hop inside.

“Y-you go first!” Dimitri was able to peer inside the room from what little he could see, the room was cramped and dark. If he had to choose between slowly dying in the enclosure or possible freedom in being gained by escaping through the darkness of the factory, the slow death seemed preferable. Simone would not put up with this.

Simone grabbed Dimitri’s arm, dragging him along as she hopped into the factory. Dimitri struggled against Simone, trying with all his might to stay outside.

“Why. Are. You. Being. So. Difficult?” Simone asked, her words punctuated with each of Dimitri’s acts of resistance. 

“Please, just leave me out here.” Dimitri said, trying not to cry. His resistance grew more fervent with his pleas coming in shorter and shorter intervals. Eventually, either Simone prevailed in her efforts to drag Dimitri into the small dark room or Dimitri accepted his fate and stopped resisting. The two tumbled into the room, on top of the remnants of the window which had long since been decimated.

The room had a hallway connected which was shielded from view by a curtain. Simone guided Dimitri over to the curtain while he had his eyes glued shut and was trembling viciously. 

“What the hell is wrong with you? I’d think going in here would be easy for you.”

Dimitri was annoyed by Simone’s insensitivity. It didn’t matter why he didn’t want to be in this space, he shouldn’t be forced to be here if it hurt him so much. Tired of Simone’s belittlement and mockery he shoved himself out of her grasp, liberating him at the cost of her balance. Simone tumbled backwards, smacking a button that caused the lights to switch on.


	15. DO OVER!

Dimitri snapped out of his intensely fearful state. Realizing what he had done, Dimitri went to help Simone off the floor. 

“Are you okay? That didn’t look like it felt that good,” Dimitri said apologetically. 

Simone looked back at him while rubbing her head. Her vision slowly returned to normal as she took in the newly illuminated scenery. 

“I’m fine. To be honest, I probably deserved that. It wasn’t fair of me to drag you in here kicking and screaming”

The two agreed to let the issue rest for now as a bigger issue, their escape, had yet to be tackled. The hallway didn’t resemble what one would normally expect to be inside a factory; its walls were panels of obsidian with colored inserts that emitted a faint light. As the two advanced further down the corridor, several doors revealed themselves.

Unlike the door guarding the entrance to the facility, these ones did not seem like they were made to withstand blows from a nuclear blast but were mostly made of glass. The existence of multiple doors proved to be redundant as they all led to the same place, an enormous meeting hall fit for world leaders to gather. Behind each seat was a door engraved with two sets of letters each. The letters one each door were, “SM”, “ER”, “LR”, and “PA”.

As the two were investigating the facility Libby was gazing through the window in their study. Their study was rigged with numerous gauges, meters, and alarms. They were in a conference call with some contacts in Berlin chatting away about recent events surrounding an armed insurrection of the politburo, arranging for Libby’s escape.

“Well I am certainly glad my daughter’s buddy, Dimitri was distracted today. I think he’s genuinely a good kid, but got caught up with the wrong crowd...”

Before Libby could finish their thought, a blinding flash of light and shockwave of force destroyed their neighborhood. Libby was dead. Simone was dead. Dimitri was dead. Everyone in a five mile radius was very, very dead.   
  


Wait. Something isn’t right here. I am almost certain I rigged that missile alarm to go off 30 minutes ago. I specifically made sure Libby could go in there and rescue Simone and Dimitri. I guess I have to use the rest of my white out. I really didn’t want to, that stuff is reserved for emergencies only and I can’t exactly get more. I guess since someone went and tampered with Libby’s alarms I have to fix it myself. Okay. DO OVER!

* * *

* * *

~~_ As the two were investigating the facility Libby was gazing through the window in their study. Their study was rigged with numerous gauges, meters, and alarms. They were in a conference call with some contacts in Berlin chatting away about recent events surrounding an armed insurrection of the politburo, arranging for Libby’s escape. _ ~~

~~_ “Well I am certainly glad my daughter’s buddy, Dimitri was distracted today. I think he’s genuinely a good kid, but got caught up with the wrong crowd...” _ ~~

~~_ Before Libby could finish their thought, a blinding flash of light and shockwave of force destroyed their neighborhood. Libby was dead. Simone was dead. Dimitri was dead. Everyone in a five mile radius was very, very dead. _ ~~


	16. The Escape

Every alarm in Libby’s office went off at once. The sound was loud enough to make someone go deaf if they were exposed to it for long enough. Libby slammed the lever down, causing the alarms to immediately cease blaring. 

“Everything okay over there?” one of Libby’s informants asked.

“I gotta start packing. I have half an hour before my entire neighborhood is flattened.”

The voice on the other side of the call became incredibly loud, and before they could stop Libby, the call ended. The device was folded up and placed into a bag which was slung over their back which was prepared in case a situation like this. 

Libby stomped up to Simone’s room and emptied out most of her dresser into a backpack. As Libby was leaving Simone’s room, they could hear the sound of someone moving coming from Metis’s room. 

“No, he’s been gone for so long- can’t hurt to at least check,” Libby thought to themselves nervously. 

Libby edged down the hall to Metis’s room and threw open the door.

“Metis, I’m glad you’re home but we gotta get out of here right now-”

What greeted Libby instead of their long lost son was instead a heavily stuffed duffle bag. Taped to the handle was a small note reading “Don’t forget to take this. Sincerely, Morgan.” in a shaky font. Libby prodded the bag and then cautiously opened it only to see several days worth of clothes. Below the neatly folded pile was another note.

“It’s for Dimitri, you fucking idiot! Sincerely, Morgan.”

Libby tossed the notes aside and quickly stuffed the clothes back in the bag. The stairs beneath their feet flew by at the speed of sound. Ducking behind their desk, Libby grabbed a ring of keys and dashed across the street. 

When they tried to go around to the back of the factory they discovered their path was blocked which resulted in them having to cut through the inside. Libby flicked on the lights and bolted to the back door through a maze of hallways. When they reached the farthest room they could hear boards being peeled away.

“WAIT! STOP! I’LL OPEN THE DOOR!” Libby shouted as they swung open the thick metal plate that was the door.

Simone and Dimitri were surprised to see Libby here of all places. Falsely believing themselves to be in trouble, both of them nervously tried to inquire about the current situation only to repeatedly interrupt each other.

“Look we don’t have time for this! Simone, take this. Dimitri take this, we gotta get out of here…“

Dimitri crossed his arms and said, “I’m not going, at least not with you!”

Libby looked like they were going to start shooting steam from their nose with how angry they became. 

“Dimitri you can cut this bratty shit out, right now! If you stay behind you’re going to die, is that what you want? Do you want to die?”

Dimitri’s expression grew somber, his arms dropped as his vision directed itself to the ground. He wasn’t staring at anything in particular, it was as if he had escaped his body. Before Libby could comment on how slow he was being, Dimitri snapped back into reality.

“I’ll go with you, I don’t want to die yet,” Dimitri replied as he snatched up the bag Libby had for him.

Everyone hurried down the halls to an area that looked like a garage with a shuttered door on one side and an armored Jeep parked in front of it. Libby instructed Simone and Dimitri to get in the back as they cranked the door open, revealing a brick wall. Once the door was secure Libby hopped in the vehicle and started the Jeep.

After flicking a lever in the car, a delta of cracks formed in the wall. These cracks oozed light and this light took over the wall, forming a tunnel of light that bored impossibly deep. The veil at the edge of this tunnel indicated some sort of otherworldly boundary.

“Okay, everyone hold on tight. This is going to be a bumpy ride!”

Libby floored the gas pedal, sending the vehicle tumbling through the tunnel and as the tunnel closed behind them, the building was vaporized. Unlike before, however, they got away.


	17. A Story About Laura's Father: Part 2

Laura and Com decided to take a walk into the streets of Mintana, a particularly brave move on Com’s part as a familiar enemy still controlled the land. In an effort to keep the day pleasant, Com kept his cloak tied in an orientation that would conceal his true identity. Laura was none the wiser to this though, her mental image of Com was restricted to a vaguely male shaped presence and a friendly voice.

The two decided to get a pitcher of hot chocolate from a nearby cafe along with a small plate of cookies. While Com was waiting for their order to be completed, Laura was tasked with finding them a spot to sit. There was a wide selection of tables to choose from, the cafe was fairly empty except for one of the natives who appeared to be resting in one of the booths. As with the natives of Mintana, his head resembled that of a humanoid cat with both pointy ears above his forehead and two heavily engorged oval shaped ears protruding from where human ears would normally be. Unlike most natives she had passed on the street who deliberately attempted to come across as gender neutral, he appeared to be trying to portray a conventionally masculine appearance. To cut this short, so I don’t have to repeat this description each time a member of their species is introduced, he was a Googlian.

As Laura passed by his booth he jerked awake, his tail fiercely smacking the space beside him. Below where he was passed out sat a book written in a language Laura couldn’t understand. His arm knocked loose a set of highlighters that were tucked under the book cover. Laura stopped to pick up a highlighter that rolled off the table.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you!”

The boy looked confused. His tail quivered against the booth as he timidly looked away from her.

“Did I do something wrong?”

A voice seemed to pierce Laura’s mind. She had no evidence to prove her theory, but she could feel like it was coming from the boy. That was impossible though, telepathy isn’t real, or at least that’s what Com always told her.

“I can’t be here. I overslept. Please don’t tell anyone I was here. Pretend you never saw me.”

Before the boy could get away, Com stopped him in his tracks. Com playfully frowned at the boy before reversing his expression entirely.

“Catching up on your homework, Ecklivyane? It’s okay buddy, join us, there’s enough for us to share. I’ll go get you a glass.”

Com placed everything on table giving Ecklivyane enough room to finish what he was doing. Everyone crowded into the booth, giving Laura the opportunity to question the situation.

“You know each other?”

Com laughed to himself, his hood flapping around with how hard he was cackling.

“Oh yeah, I guess you two haven’t met. Ecklivyane this is Laura, Laura this is Ecklivyane. Ecklivyane is currently being mentored by me, although usually we don’t let him leave The Arc on his own. Isn’t that right, Ecky?”

Ecklivyane looked down at the table in shame.

“Why can’t he go out on his own?”

Ecklivyane shifted a mass of hair from his forehead revealing a third eye. The eye darted around furiously upon being exposed to light. As to not arouse suspicion, Ecklivyane put his hair back where it originally was.

“That’s why. I wouldn’t want one of my students to be killed because he decided to take a walk. The Aerican Empire doesn’t have a high opinion of mutants.”

Ecklivyane cringed at the word. This reaction triggered something in Com. The air hung heavy as Com apologized.

“He literally named me the Mintanan word for ‘Little Mutant’ and raised me to feel terrible about myself!” Ecklivyane was boiling with anger. The page he was in the middle of highlighting was slowly pooling with highlighter fluid as he pressed harder and harder and harder.

“Come on Ecky, that’s Laura’s dad you’re talking about. He had his moments, but he meant well. Why do you think we are staying in Mintana…“ As Com finished the sentence a man wearing a military uniform entered the cafe. Com gestured for Ecklivyane to duck under the table as the soldier looked around. Eventually the soldier left the cafe, giving Ecklivyane the ability to crawl out from under the table.

“Hey, Ecky, did you happen to bring your cloak by any chance? Going out like this isn’t the safest thing for you right now.”

Ecklivyane grabbed a bag he was keeping under the table. He reluctantly shuffled on the cloak, rolling his eyes after he put it on.

For the remainder of the afternoon the group ate cookies and sipped their hot chocolate, returning to The Arc when they were done.


	18. Into the Void

Simone’s eyes lit up with wonder when the car exited the portal. The space they entered resembled an ink filled void with a massive flickering ball of energy situated in the center. Other than the car, the void contained little else other than a massive metal warship, clouds outlining the edges of the far edges of the void, and a white marble of a celestial body orbiting the vibrantly chromatic star. The entire layout of the void resembled that of a dream, a dream that has fused with reality.

Dimitri’s hangover was starting to set in. Along with said hangover it only then began to set in that he was forced to go on a magical journey under the guise of evading death. Furthermore, the colorful environment wasn’t amusing to him, the star was egging on a headache rather than inspiring thoughts of wonder.

“Ugh… Libby, where are we going?” Dimitri asked, trying to not sound bitter.

“Yeah, you were really desperate to get us in here,” Simone commented, still mesmerized by the approaching ball of flickering light.

“Well friends, we are going to be going on a magical journey to a faraway land…” Dimitri rolled his eyes and interrupted Libby.

“Get to the point you crackpot!” 

Libby slouched forward in shame and lowered the hood of their cloak revealing themselves to be a Googolian. Simone and Dimitri were stunned at the revelation of Libby’s true appearance. Dimitri held back his disgusted disapproval while Simone found herself fascinated by Libby. Libby attempted to continue what they were saying while holding back as much of the tears in their eyes as possible.

“Well fine, Dimitri! I’ll get to the point and, since I’ll no longer be needing to hide my appearance from the filth you associate with, I guess I won’t bother trying to keep up the facade that I am like you. We are going to me and Zhmane’s homeland, a place where the grimy claws of authoritarianism have yet to take root. However, we’ll need to make a pit stop on Verden to get this buggy recalibrated.”

Dimitri looked more confused than a deer in headlights. Turning to Simone he laughed and then asked a question.

“Can you translate for me, this swine’s accent is really thick? All I can hear are just a bunch of growls and hisses.”

Simone was taken aback by what she heard. Normally when Libby was around them he at least toned down these types of remarks. While the comments he normally made were not particularly pleasant, usually they weren’t this blunt. Usually Dimitri knew some form of restraint. Before Simone could smack Dimitri for being a rude little turd, Libby had something to clap back with.

“I didn’t have to bring you with me, you know.”

Dimitri was perplexed by the statement.

“What do you mean that you didn’t have to bring me along?” Dimitri asked.

“I could have let that missile vaporize you along with everyone in the area,” Libby replied sternly.

“But y-you packed that bag for me, right?” Dimitri was growing more uneasy as the conversation progressed.

“I found that bag sitting on Metis’s bed. It was all prepacked, waiting for someone to take it. I remember hearing someone in there beforehand, but they were gone by the time I got there. I hope that stuff fits you, I doubt a cryptid would know your size.”

Simone grew tired from the bickering. Noting that Dimitri’s emotional state resembled that of a cartoon character with a rain cloud above its head, she leaned forward to try to get Libby to stop.

“Hey Libby, you’ve had your fun but I don’t think lying to Dimitri is the best thing to do right now. I can tell him off once we’ve landed, okay.” Simone tried being cordial but all that resulted in was Libby growing more bitter than a licorice and grapefruit pie. Dimitri attempted to make agreeing sounds but what came out of his mouth could barely be called words. This gibberish garnished word salad resulted in Dimitri curling up into a ball where he sat.

“As much as I would love to say I’m lying, I’m not. I wouldn’t lie about something like that, and if I wanted to, I would easily be able to make up something better.”

Before the argument could continue Libby announced that they were at their destination. Simone was in awe at the fantastical environment before them while Dimitri uncurled himself from his depression ball. 


	19. Dante's Last Supper

Dimitri was utterly exhausted. While he had managed to survive the pre-initiation rituals Dante had set out for him, they seemed explicitly crafted to play on his weaknesses. Such a possibility was unlikely, but that was how it felt to Dimitri.

Libby had invited them all over for dinner. This was a relief for Dimitri who, while eagerly awaiting to mingle with the other members of the brotherhood, did not want to eat their meals which mostly consisted of MREs and other revolting delicacies. Even if such meals were meant to prepare one for the Great Uprising, that did not prevent them from tasting like motor oil. 

Simone sat beside him, as she normally did when he stayed for dinner. The two had grown close over the weeks Dimitri had stayed with them, to the point where they had exchanged screen names so they could stay in contact after Dimitri had left for greener pastures. 

“Just fucking kiss already. I hate this drawn out shit,” Metis joked, leaning in between their chairs. The idea had been tossed up before by Metis and Dante, hoping to get a rise out of them. This tactic proved itself to be a failure. Simone had expressed numerous times that she could never see herself getting into a relationship with anyone, let alone Dimitri. Dimitri added that he wanted to wait a few years before entering the dating world. 

Such remarks from Dimitri would usually cause Metis to performatively sigh while Dante would roll his eyes. Clearly, they thought they knew something he didn’t. 

Metis and Dante sat beside Dimitri with Dante sitting closest to his protégé. Dante’s presence was overwhelming. The only one who was taller was Libby, but Libby was so tall that it wasn’t even a competition; even then their gangliness made up for an otherwise supernatural stature. Dante did not share this attribute. Juxtaposed with Metis he seemed like a lion next to a fragile house cat, the Goliath to Metis’s David, the hurricane to Metis’s tiny campfire. It was easy for the outside observer to see why they were perfect for each other. 

Libby placed several dishes on the table. The dishes were filled to the brim with assortments of comfort food. Helpings of mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and meatloaf were distributed across the table. As everyone began consuming the lovingly crafted food, Dante thought he should start a conversation.

“Apparently while we were doing your training today, the brotherhood captured some thieves today.”

Dimitri nodded along, trying to pretend he was interested in what Dante was saying.

“Dimitri, are you related to Sylvia Makhno by any chance?”

It took everything for Dimitri not to choke on the chunk of meatloaf entering his throat. That name was something he had hoped he would never hear again. With how smooth the transition to his new life in the brotherhood was, he foolishly assumed Linda had removed her from existence. 

“No…” Dimitri gulped down what he had in his mouth, “I’ve never heard of her in my life.”

Dante seemed unconvinced but he was reluctant to press the issue any further, or at least in front of people who might have the ability to stop him.

“Well apparently the boys all got to take turns interrogating her and that gang of thieves she led didn’t hold up very long. I wish I could have been there to see them all break…”

“Dante, remember when I told you not to talk about that stuff at the dinner table?” Libby asked, trying to get him to stop talking about extra-judicial advanced interrogation techniques. I can’t blame Libby for doing that, when Dante talks about such violence listening to him can get rather uncomfortable.


	20. Get Cracking in Midori

The Verdenese city of Midori was bustling with life as Simone, Libby, and Dimitri exited the vehicle. Dimitri grumbled to himself as he observed strange beings in a state of perpetual euphoria and mania. Simone tried her best to avoid staring at the intricate appearances of each of these beings.

The Verdenese were a diverse bunch. While they all were far from human, they could be confused for humans wearing complex costumes pulled straight from an acid trip. Some looked like fusions of humans and animals, some looked like clockwork dolls given sentience, and some looked like they were ripped straight from the imagination of a small child. This fact about the Verdenese is why they were often nicknamed “Imaginary Friends” by those who only took a superficial glance at their society.

While he was scanning the crowd, looking for another human face, his eyes met those of someone who was leaning against a building. After a moment of their eyes meeting, the person ripped out their earbuds and barrelled towards Dimitri. In a split second Dimitri was nearly tackled by the person.

“Oh my god, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again! I’ve been looking but I couldn’t find the others and…” The person was on the verge of hyperventilating, they were shaking and seemed disoriented. Dimitri awkwardly glanced at Simone. Not really knowing what to do, Simone poked the person on the shoulder. They turned around and she timidly waved at them.

“Hey, bro I’m sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but do I know you?” Dimitri asked the person, trying his best to reign in any lingering dickishness. The light in their eyes immediately dimmed and the color in their face vanished.

“I-I’m sorry. I guess we haven’t met. My name is Pistachio Adams, sorry if that outburst was off putting.” Pistachio stuck out their hand. Dimitri shook it so hard that they had to hold their arm afterwards. 

“Oh yeah, that grip. It’s gonna be hard to get used to that again,” Pistachio looked at Simone, almost as if they were trying to remember if they had met her before, “I don’t think I’ve met you before. What’s your name, if you don’t mind me asking?” 

Simone was perplexed by Pistachio’s behavior. Seemingly they had a history with Dimitri but somehow didn’t know who she was. Did Dimitri hide her existence from them? That couldn’t be it, Dimitri didn’t seem to know who they were.

“Not at all, my name is Zhmane Kreel but you can call me Simone if that’s easier for you.”

Pistachio laughed to themselves. The frizzy mound of hair on their head repeatedly fell over their face, eventually resulting in them sneezing. In the middle of their laughter, Pistachio managed to get out an explanation.

“Man, I thought I had a silly name! Zh-Ma-Ne? Did an incredibly lazy sci-fi author name you or something?”

Come on Pistachio, I tried okay? Have you tried designing an alien language? It isn’t easy and I definitely put a lot more effort into it than I did naming you.

Simone grumbled and Dimitri’s expression turned from awkward bemusement to anger. Getting within an inch of Pistachio, let out all of the built up rage in a torrent of words which rained down on Pistachio harder than a powerful thunderstorm. Unlike any trees in the literal setting of a thunderstorm, Pistachio was unphased by such a torrential downpour. 

“Relax my friend. I was just giving her a hard time. If her name is Zhmane, I’ll call her Zhmane. I’m not a terribly big fan of assimilationist nonsense anyways,” Pistachio said snickering to themselves. Libby’s eyes widened and in a flash, Pistachio found themselves in an uncomfortable embrace.

“Libby, what the hell are you doing?” Simone inquired, confused by what was taking place before her eyes.

“This one, we are keeping this one,” Libby said as Pistachio tried to escape Libby’s grasp. 

“Hey, big guy, I’m not going anywhere. Can you let me go now; I’d like to breathe sometime.” As the gasps of air exited Pistachio’s mouth, Libby released them from their arms. Libby’s eyes began to water as they gazed down at everyone else.

“I’m sorry… it’s just, I’ve never… It’s so rare when someone actually tries getting her name right...” Libby wiped their nose on their sleeve, eventually realizing they left a giant smear on their cloak. In a panic, Libby feverishly removed the cloak, running back to stash the garment in the car. Everyone burst into laughter at the sight of Libby bolting back to them.

Libby was breathing heavily from the sprinting. Despite the rapid movement of their sides and the force exerted from the running, the bandages tightly wrapped around their chest remained in place. Everyone chatted as Libby cooled down. 

“I bet Midori has changed quite a bit since you’ve last been here. I’ll get us some lunch, my treat.”


	21. Needling a Fascist

Linda was staring daggers at the scientist sitting opposite of her. The scientist had a little girl in her arms, sound asleep thanks to one of Linda’s hexes; having a toddler running around and messing with her stuff would have made for a very unpleasant evening. The scientist was quivering in fear for her life.

“So, dearie, you mean to tell me you want me to kill this child for you. Why do you think I would do that for you?” Linda asked in a judgemental tone.

“M-M-Miss, I have no other choice. She’s an abomination. Letting her loose would wreak havoc on the genetic purity of the population.” As she spoke she tightly clenched the girl causing her to murmur in her sleep. Linda remained unamused by the explanation. 

“Oh dearie, that sounds so eloquent. You must have mindlessly committed so much of Mr. Malthus to memory, too bad he’s full of shit though,” Linda said, leaning heavily into her words. The scientist’s anxious disposition heightened as Linda’s gaze grew more intense, “I’m feeling more nice than I really should so, I’ll tell you what, I will take this child off your hands for you. I know what your leader would do to you if he found out you were cowardly enough to come to me.”

The scientist grew furious at Linda. Steam could almost be seen spouting from her nose.

“Clearly, you don’t understand the scientific analysis offered by Malthus...” Linda was so insulted by the insinuation of her lacking knowledge in something she slammed her fist into the table which separated them. The mark which was left in the table healed itself almost immediately, leaving behind a small “ :’( ” face before that also vanished.

“My dear, I orchestrated most of history...” Linda’s face grew more sinister as any lingering warmth was sucked from the air, “I am so much more powerful than fascist scum like you. You Should Be Thankful I Stopped Killing Ungrateful Swine Like You A LONG Time Ago. YoU HaVe ThE NERVE tO cOmE oNtO mY tRaIn AnD DEMAND I...” The little girl stirred in her sleep. Suddenly aware of how she was coming across, Linda dialed back her presence.

“Tell me, why should I… dispose of this little angel, again? I want you to say it. I want you to say that she doesn’t deserve to live because your leader is afraid of her.” The words cut deeper into the scientist. Tears dripped down her face.

“But Miss, he’ll kill me, he’ll have my family put in the camps. I have to kill her. I HAVE TO!” The crying devolved into full on grovelling with phlegm bubbling out of the malformed snout that she called a nose. 

“Fine, I’ll do it. I’ll make sure you never have to worry about her again,” Linda reluctantly replied, accepting the little angel as the scientist passed her over to Linda.

“W-what is the catch? Miss, you seemed so hostile just a bit ago.”

Linda’s face contorted into a devilish smile. Her teeth resembled those of a hungry shark or a cartoonish array of knives.

“The catch is that you get to live, and as a punishment you will learn the truth about your family. My dear, you will learn the truth about what your leader wants for Mintana. I normally would provide a contract for you to sign, but you don’t deserve a choice on the matter. Even then, I couldn’t change what happened to them even if I wanted to.”

The scientist began to sweat feverishly, her eyes grew wide as terrible thoughts crossed her mind. Before she could say anything, Linda reached over the table and struck her in the forehead with her palm.

Screams echoed the scientist’s head. Accompanying these screams were flashes of flesh being grafted onto the frame of a seemingly inanimate husk of a creature. Blood was being pumped, the creature seemingly was alive but it was only in the most technical sense. It was as if the creature was waiting for a sentient mind to occupy the useless glob of matter that was its brain. 

A pile sat in front of the mass of the being. This heap was made up of rejected human body parts, treated with as much dignity as one would treat raw sewage or garbage. The scientist was trying her hardest not to vomit.

“W-w-what is the meaning of this? What am I seeing? Did you make these visions up just to torture me? Who is screaming and what is that thing? That horrific thing!”

Linda stroked the child’s hair looking up at the scientist occasionally.

“Dearie, I can only show people what is real. What you are seeing in your mind’s eye is quite real. I imagine that if you, so called, humanitarians actually tried to understand the culture of the Googolian people before rolling out your state-sanctioned genocide, you’d fully understand what you just saw.”

The scientist burst into a jumbled rage.

“Quit being so cryptic and tell me what I just saw!” she yelled, trying her best not to reach for Linda’s neck. Linda softly chuckled to herself.

“Is that pain you are feeling, despair or fear perhaps? I really have no reason to offer you an explanation. That type of thing is a luxury which wasn’t offered to the masses of people you helped slaughter or the people next in line to die if they dare step a toe out of line,” Linda’s face contorted into something truly sadistic, “But, since I am feeling unreasonably generous, the screams you are hearing are those of your family. They are dead. All of them have had their organs harvested in service of the revival of Lord Oculon. Your leader has been lying to you when he told you they would be fine.”

The scientist broke down in tears. The pain was too much for her to bear, all the sacrifices she made so her children could live in the nicer parts of Mintana, so they could live a better life, all for nothing. As she pulled her head out from her hands, she took one final look at the child in Linda’s arms.

“Don’t do it...” The scientist uttered timidly. Linda smirked.

“Don’t do what, I need you to be more specific, my dear.” 

“Don’t kill her. I don’t want to be her mother but don’t kill her.”   
  


Linda was satisfied and dismissed the scientist, never intending to actually kill the girl.


	22. The Cloak of Hidden Truths

Luca stared at Laura. She had been talking for what felt like several months at this point. He didn’t care much for exposition. There was only one thing that really was on his mind. A burning question that would consume him from the inside out if it was left unanswered or if the consequences of it were to be left unchecked.

“Can you fix me?” Luca asked. He was so ashamed of how he looked that he couldn’t even look his own mother in the eyes. 

“Fix what? Luca, you fixed yourself by leaving that tower.” 

“Laura, I’m a freak. I don’t know if I ever will see them again but…” Luca took a deep breath in an attempt to regain what composure he once had, “I don’t want them to see me like this.” It took everything for Luca to avoid bursting into tears again.

“Bud, if they are really your friends they should have no problem with the fact that you are half Googolian.”

“Well, I have a problem that I am half Googolian!” Luca’s words were loud enough to startle the nurse, who had already migrated back to the other room. Laura was shocked by the words. The words could have been a hot knife cutting into butter. Trying not to cry, Laura gave a shy response.

“Very well then. I shouldn’t have expected you to take this well, after I spent so many years lying to you. I just thought you would have been proud that you looked so much like your father. I’m sure he would have loved to meet you.” Laura walked over to a closet, the door was covered in a layer of dust and looked decades older than the rest of the room. Laura grabbed a thick leather cloak from the closet and tossed it over to Luca. 

“Put it on,” she commanded, “It won’t do much but it helped your father stay out of trouble when he was your age.”

“What does it do?” Luca asked, caressing the edges of the fabric.

“Well, apart from it doing a lot to hide your fur from view, it can… Well, put it on and you’ll see,” Laura said, gesturing towards both the cloak and the pile of clothes, neatly folded by Luca’s cot. Laura left Luca to change and came back in to show him how the cloak worked.

With the hood up, Laura walked Luca over to the mirror.

“Okay bud, now lower your hood.” As Luca lowered his hood, he was bewildered that he looked like his old self again. Said bewilderment transformed into joy, but said feeling triggered a mysterious thumping sound.

“Yeah, the hood only really changes you from the neck up, so sorry but you’re gonna have to deal with the whole ‘having a tail’ thing. Concerning your hands, I think there are some gloves in the pockets that you can use.”

“Hopefully he won’t notice I’m a freak...” Luca mumbled under his breath, staring at his reflection intensely. 


	23. A Heavy First Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be a lot more NSFW than the previous chapters, so if you were expecting this to be a fluffy, innocent date between these two dudes then you are mistaken. You won't be missing much in the grand scheme of things but this does flesh some things out regarding Dante and Metis's relationship.

Dante was fidgeting rapidly as he leaned on the wall of the theater, waiting for his date to arrive. A hooded figure eventually approached him. Not knowing how to react to a stranger standing incredibly close to him, Dante awkwardly waved.

“Oh, I guess you weren’t expecting me to be so heavily covered up, considering my day job. My name is Metis, I assume you were the one who told me to meet you here.” Dante tried to speak but the only words that came out his mouth were garbled nonsense, “You don’t do this type of thing very often do you, huh, or are you just nervous to be seen with someone like me?”

“C-can you tell?” Dante asked.

“Well, I mean your crowd never really treats me well during my shifts there. Must have been a gamble for you to scrawl your number on the check, right?” Metis stepped really close, uncomfortably close to Dante, grabbing the collar of his shirt to lessen the difference in height between them, “You clearly must have liked what you saw a great deal then.”

Dante could feel the blood rising to his face. Was this the dude he asked to see a movie with? He wasn’t complaining, this just wasn’t who he was expecting. Dante shyly nodded in agreement with Metis.

“Yeah, you are pretty adorable, even more than what I could see at your day job. I’m not gonna lie about that.” Metis flashed Dante a cheeky grin from beneath his hood.

“What do you mean by that, the uniform at the Blood Bucket is literally a crop top and booty shorts. If you saw more than that I’d be damn close to being naked,” Metis brushed his fingers under Dante’s jaw, lightly grasping it at one point, “I mean, I wouldn’t mind you seeing those parts of me in the future, if you wanted to, of course.”

Dante suddenly became redder than a tomato.

“No, no I- uh meant…” Metis burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

“I know what you meant, I was just messing with you.” 

“Oh.” Dante said.

“In all seriousness, I’m pretty different from how that shithole makes me act. Sorry if I’m too much of a bitch for you,” Metis seemed to recoil a bit after the words left his mouth. Could this be some genuine emotional expression seeping through a facade of devilishness? This was technically a date, so maybe Metis had felt the same way about him.

“Metis, I’m here to get to know the real you. Let’s go inside, the movie is about to start.” 

The two entered the theater, letting the energy of the place wash over them. The lobby had very few other people aside from the workers maintaining the theater and concession stand. Once they reached the ticket taker, the emptiness was emphasized.

“Oh, hi there. Don’t expect it to be a party. You probably are the only people here right now.”

“Good to know,” Metis noted slyly. 

The two stopped to get some popcorn and drinks, the self-serve area held a wide array of options in this regard. Metis, cup in hand, poured himself a tall glass of chocolate milk. Dante then dispensed himself a coffee.

“No cream or sugar?” Metis asked.

“I like bitter things, why do you think I like you so much?” 

“Oh, oh that hurt so badly. Why would you say something so mean, you meanie,” Metis said facetiously. Dante smiled at him, patting him softly on the head.

The two eventually entered the room their movie was being shown in. As the person behind the desk had said, the room was empty. They both decided to sit at the back row, so they could get a view of the whole room. Feeling a tad bit safer, Metis threw the hood from his head. 

The film started to play. The movie, “The House On Ash Tree Lane”, was a horror movie made in the style of a documentary with grainy, black and white footage accompanying text on a blank background. Despite how it was advertised, the film was pretty boring. While in a daze, Dante could feel something fiddling with his waistband.

“Metis, what the hell are you doing?” Dante asked, awkwardly.

“I was bored and saw you had a bit of a boner. I can stop if you want.”

Feeling down for a bit of exhibitionism, Dante replied.

“I’m fine with what you’re doing but isn’t this type of thing a bit much for a first date.” Metis chuckled at the remark.

“What can I say, I’m a bit of a whore.”

Dante didn’t really know how to respond to that and let Metis continue on his quest to jerk him off. Eventually, after a period of shuffling, Dante was able to help get his dick out of the layers of fabric which kept it out of Metis’s grasp.

Upon it reaching outside of Dante’s trousers Metis stared for a moment, transfixed by its size. Metis looked at the member with the same gaze a tiger would have in regard to its prey. Drool could almost be seen dripping from his mouth.

Metis dropped to the ground, shuffling himself between Dante’s legs. The space between them was very minimal, Dante’s dick resting only inches away from Metis’s face.

Metis began to lick tip of Dante’s penis in a way which complimented Metis’s split tongue, eventually also firmly grasping the base of the member. The movements of Metis’s tongue caused waves of pleasure to roll through Dante. Dante’s breathing began to slowly pick up speed as he let out the tiniest of moans. 

“You like this, huh? What if I did this…” Metis softly nibbled the head of Dante’s dick, lightly pricking him with his canine teeth. Dante loudly moaned while nodding his head.

Metis began to put more and more of Dante into his mouth until the stroking which he was doing at the base of his dick became next to impossible. This didn’t matter to Dante whose face was contorted with pleasure and who had their hands grasped so tight on the armrests that they were on the verge of cracking.

“GOD DAMMIT…” Dante moaned trying to hold himself back. Realizing what he was doing, Metis held up a shaky thumbs up and shoved Dante’s dick as deep in his throat as possible. Euphoria rushed through Dante as his load spilled into Metis’s throat, Metis gulped down the fluid, playfully licking Dante’s dick clean as he removed the length from his mouth.

“Gotta say, out of all the dicks I’ve sucked, you don’t taste half-bad.” Metis said, returning to his seat to finish watching the movie with Dante. After taking a massive sip of his chocolate milk he added, “That said, the taste of cum does get old very fast.” Dante burst into a fit of laughter at the comment.

The rest of the movie played out well, with the two spending the rest of the time mocking what was happening on screen. Eventually, the movie ended and they went to leave the theater, Dante telling Metis that he could leave his hood down for now.

“I had fun. Let’s do this again sometime,” Metis said, practically climbing over Dante to kiss him goodnight. As Metis parted ways with him Dante held the part of his cheek Metis had kissed, longingly. He missed him already.


	24. Black(mail) and Bruises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pulled this chapter originally because the ending didn't feel right when I first published it. I went back and retooled the end of this chapter and fixed what I considered to be stale writing. Sorry if any of you were confused why the first addition of this chapter appeared for all of one day.

Metis was pacing the hall, waiting for Dante to show up. The guy had promised he would come over after he was done with work and he was already late.

“Maybe he forgot he had plans,” Metis thought to himself, trying not to worry.

It was just as Metis was about to return to his room, he heard what sounded like an arrhythmic pounding from the stairs leading up to their living space. Cautiously, Metis cracked open the door. Halfway down the steps he could see what appeared to be Dante, or at least a heavily bruised version of Dante. Metis bolted down the stairs to meet him, trying his best to not fall down the stairs.

“Babe, what happened to you? Who did this to you? Here, let me help you upstairs.” Dante leaned on Metis’s shoulder, trying not to crush him under his weight. Eventually, Metis was able to get Dante into the bathroom and started a cold bath.

“It’s fine, I’m fine.” Metis glared at him as the words left his mouth.

“Don’t lie to me, you’re not fine. I’m gonna go get some ice and then you are going to tell me what happened. Whoever did this to you is gonna fucking pay.” 

Dante tried to reason with Metis from the doorway as he ran to the kitchen, returning with arms full of ice trays. Metis vigorously dumped the ice into the tub, almost smashing the trays themselves with how forceful he was being.

“Get in the tub,” Metis commanded.

“What?” Dante asked in a daze.

“Get in the fucking tub or you’ll be a lot more sore in a few hours!”

Dante did what he was told, stripping off the slightly bloodied clothes until he was down to his underwear, having to be stopped by Metis before he could remove said layer.

“That’s good enough for now just get in the tub, I gotta go get…” A creak could be heard behind them. Just as Dante has submerged himself in the tub, Metis could see Simone standing in the doorway.

“What’s happening, Metis? Is he hurt?” Simone asked. 

“Oh Simone, glad to see you’re still awake. Um, no he’s fine but I’m gonna need you to go get Libby for me.”

“Why?” she asked, puzzled by the current situation.

“Look, now’s not the time for questions. Just go get Libby and make sure they have Occult Studies Manual #76-A.”

Without comment Simone turned around and ran as fast as she could towards the study. With her out of the way, Metis turned his attention back to Dante.

“I need you to answer honestly: who did this to you?”

Dante’s eyes darted around, trying to avoid looking at Metis.

“Babe, I’m going to need you to answer me. I just want to have a word with them,” Fire could almost be seen in Metis’s eyes as he spoke that last sentence.

“I don’t want you to be upset with me,” Dante said, trying to hold back the tears to the best of his ability.

“Why would I possibly be mad at you? Babe, you are the victim here,” Dante tried to hold it in but the answer came out all at once.

“I work with a few members of the brotherhood down at the cannery. One of them must have seen you come to get me and…”

“And what?” Metis asked, tapping his nails on the edge of the tub.

“They gathered a few others and asked me what our relationship was like. I refused to answer their questions about our sex life but what little I gave them…They took that as justification to beat the shit out of me…” Metis was fuming.

“Okay. I still don’t get why you think I should be mad at you!”

“They said if I was ever seen with you again that they’d report me to high command…”

“Well we certainly can’t have that!” Libby said, bursting through the entrance with the tome in hand. 

“Good thinking, Metis. The spell we need here requires the subject to be immersed in cold water but…” Libby turned to Simone, who was standing just outside the bathroom, “I’m going to need you to shut the door and head back to your room.”

“But…” Simone protested. Metis glared at her, causing her to obediently shut the door and leave the area.

“Why did you need to do that? Was it necessary for the spell or something?” Dante asked.

“No, it’s generally not something required for the spell.” Dante flashed Libby a perplexed look.

“Then why did you need to do that?” Libby chuckled a bit to themselves.

“You might not like this step since, unlike Metis, I haven’t seen you naked before…”

Metis grew red.

“How did you know that!” 

Libby smirked underneath the folds of their hood.

“Honestly, it was just an educated guess, but thanks for confirming my suspicions Metis,” Libby took a breath, “Anyways, Dante, I’m going to need you to remove the…” Before Libby could finish the sentence, Dante rolled his eyes and removed the final article of clothing he was wearing and tossed it on the pile of clothes which sat by the tub, “Good, let’s get on with this then.”

Libby performed a complex set of incantations and hand gestures over the water, causing the water to become opaque and dark. Eventually, Dante was able to move his limbs without pain and the marks faded from his skin.

“Okay, you two, now that the most urgent matter has been dealt with, I’ll just leave this page here. Peroxide will work best on those blood stains. Try not to get too loud if you decide to do it, okay,” Libby said, exiting the room after setting a printout on the sink. 

Metis grabbed the paper, studying its contents. Metis suddenly had an idea.

“What if I was just sick?”

Dante was confused by the question.

“What?”

“This disease mimics scaly skin, causes growths to protrude from your head, and is sensitive to sunlight,”

“Wait Metis, are you saying…”

“Well, did you tell them my name?”

Dante shook his head but still wasn’t entirely sure as to what Metis was getting at.

“What’s stopping me from, I don’t know, wearing that dumb cloak everywhere like I used to? I mean, I could just bandage my hands in case anyone is suspicious of me,” Metis moved over to the edge of the tub, leaned towards Dante’s forehead, and kissed it gently, “I don’t know what I could do without you, babe. If I have to go back into hiding, I’ll do it for you.”

Dante lifted himself out of the tub, draining the water as he got up. Metis quickly threw him one of the robes which hung in a nearby closet. Dante flashed the faintest of grins as he shuffled on the robe.

“Thanks,” Dante said somberly, “You didn’t need to do this for me, I could have healed on my own.” Metis rolled his eyes at the comment.

Dante scooped up Metis awkwardly.

“HEY! What the hell are you doing?” Metis asked, flustered by Dante’s behavior.

“I was going to show you my appreciation.”

“But, I didn’t do anything that is worthy of—”

“I can put you down if you want—” 

“I mean, YEAH! I deserve something in return for all that effort I put into getting your wounds taken care of,” Metis uttered in the most overly cheesy way he possibly could. Satisfied with having Metis at least pretending to play along, Dante carried Metis to his room. 

I would go on and describe what happened next, but if their behavior from Chapter 23 was indicative of anything, it was that these two fuck more than a herd of bunnies on aphrodisiacs. I say this not to make their relationship seem trivial, unlike you I already know what was in that box Simone stole from Metis’s room, I just don’t want every chapter I write with these two in it to have a sex scene. I hope you understand.


	25. A Warm Welcome

After the group had their lunch at the Verdenese location of The Blood Bucket, Pistachio guided them to the nearest mechanic and everyone said their goodbyes. Libby tried their hardest to get Pistachio to come with them, but they had their own matters to attend to in Midori. Libby, reluctantly, dropped the subject and focused on getting the car recalibrated. After it was all said and done, everyone who remained piled into the car and the car launched itself into the sky once more.   
  


The city below shrank beneath them, the sky rapidly becoming a dark void. The flickering ball of colorful light became more apparent to them, until it was just another object in the distance.

“Hey, Libby, what is that squiggly thing in the distance?” Simone asked, pointing near the center of the windshield. 

“That is the edge of reality,” Libby explained, before immediately having any further explanation interrupted. 

“Are you freaking stupid? There is no such thing as ‘the edge of reality,’” Dimitri said while condescendingly using finger quotes.

Simone glared at Dimitri, tempted to smack him for the remark. Why must he be such a douche all the time? Couldn’t they have one moment where they’re all spared of Dimitri’s constant contrarianism. 

“Well, my boy, what would you call this, then?” Before Dimitri could make a comeback, the car plunged into a thick wall of clouds.

The clouds occasionally had gaps which contained assortments of otherwise meaningless clutter. The further into the depths of the billowing folds the car travelled, the more meaningful what they saw became to them. Eventually meaningless garbage became familiar faces until a group of those faces began to stick out to Dimitri. 

“What’s wrong?” Simone asked, gazing absently past the people and at the steps which were coming into view behind them.

“She’s— They’re dead, aren’t they? I didn’t think they’d— He told me they were fine but—” Dimitri’s voice began to fry.

“Dimitri, what are you talking about?” 

“It’s nothing,” Dimitri replied, trying to hide any lingering insincerity, “I doubt you’d remember that stuff anyways.”

Before Simone could unpack what Dimitri said, a loud crash could be heard on the side of the car. The vehicle spun into an uncontrollable barrel roll. 

The box Simone had snatched from Metis’s room escaped from under her hoodie, flew through the air, and smashed through the windshield, plummeting to its demise. Despite the bulk of her loot having escaped her grasp, in the heat of the moment, she could still feel the tape in her pocket.

The car’s descent abruptly ceased as it met the ground below. Everyone hacked their lungs out as exhaust fumes and smoke filled the interior of the vehicle.


	26. Y-O-U  B-E-L-O-N-G  T-O  M-E

The radio inside the cage suddenly spurred to life from its place on the ceiling, echoing loudly through the sterile, concrete cell. Morgan sat below the radio, listening carefully. She’d always done this, it was the only ounce of respite she could get from the voice in her head. The voice would always be quiet while the radio was on, something which confused her deeply but wasn’t a matter she was looking to interrogate.

“Good evening Mintana! I hope you have been having a wonderful day so far! I’m your host, Ragana Wheelock. Tonight I have been alerted to a gang of dangerous thieves who have been tearing up our wonderful country.

Our Supreme Leader has devoted himself entirely to catching these heinous criminals and restoring honor to our great republic. If you have any information leading to the arrest of these thieves who have dubbed themselves ‘The Friends of Robin’ please contact your county’s police immediately. 

Onto our next story, our Supreme Leader has announced that, in honor of the anniversary of the victory of our troops against the Aerican Empire, all rations will be doubled for the remainder of the week.

I would continue on this story but I have just received word that a mysterious vehicle was just shot down over our skies. It is unknown if the passengers inside were combatants from the Aerican Empire, but what we do know is that their presence violates the treaty we had with the Aerican Empire regarding our airspace—” The radio mysteriously shut itself off. 

Morgan started to cry as the voice manifested itself in her mind. Her body was robotically moved to a mirror, its corners cracked and sharp. In the real world there was nobody behind her, but in the mirror a twisted man dug his fingers into Morgan’s flesh.

The man looked almost identical to Morgan, granted he looked like he hadn’t bathed in three years and also had to deal with eyes plastered all over his body, but he still looked just like her. The man had a sinister grin scrawled across his face.

“Aw baby, why are you so sad? With that bitch off the air you can spend more time with me,” the man cackled hysterically.

“You killed her, didn’t you?”

“Come on, Morgan! She was so annoying. I can’t believe you could tolerate the sound of her voice—”

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Morgan screeched as a cascade of tears trickled down her face. The man snickered at the sight of her pain.

“Now, now Morgan, that’s no way to talk to me. Has one forgotten what I am capable of?” As he finished talking, lines started carving themselves into Morgan’s flesh. Each line was deeper than the last.

Morgan learned to keep the pain to herself, every time she screamed too loudly men in white coats would come in and restrain her. No matter how long she was tied to the table and injected with “medicine” the lines would still carve themselves into her skin, the blood would still flow, and the pain would be everlasting. Despite the constant injuries, her body would heal itself. Even if she spilled more blood than the human body could hold, her wounds would close. He could never let her face the sweet release of death.

This time, instead of just inflicting pain only to see her suffer, the injuries had a purpose.

“Come on, baby girl, look at your arm? Here, I’ll help you!” the man jerked Morgan’s head towards her arm, revealing a phrase behind the layer of blood, “Don’t you EVER forget, you belong to me!”


	27. The Threesome- Part 1

Metis and Dante decided to get some lunch at The Blood Bucket. Lunch is a bit of a strong word considering what their true purpose in dining here actually was.

“How are you holding up over there?” Metis was jittering in his seat, anxiously darting his eyes between Dante and his lap, “C’mon, this was your idea! I would have thought this would be nothing compared to you going to town on me in the theater,”

“Well, this is different…” Metis began to blush as his eyes drifted back to his lap.

“How is this different?” Dante paused for a moment to take a sip of water, “I’d understand if maybe it was the skirt that was making you feel that way, but this isn’t the first time you’ve worn one of those.”

Metis rhythmically tapped the edge of the table, staring off into the distance. He moved on to fiddling with the satchel he brought.

“I assumed going commando under one wouldn’t feel so strange… I’ve been thinking about who we should do it with all day and…”

“Hon, whoever we decide to play with today, just know that you are the only one I—” 

“I know that already!” Metis interjected, “I just kinda wish I hadn’t taken all those aphrodisiacs before we arrived…”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying both of my dicks are hard, okay!” Metis took a sip of water, trembling so hard that he almost spilled some, “Even with the cloak going below my knees, it still feels like everyone can see them,”

“Metis, it’s fine. You’ll be fine. I can’t see anything and I doubt anyone else can either. But speaking of seeing things…” Dante looked around at the scantily clad staff members, “Who was the guy you said was hornier than both of us combined?”

Metis rolled his eyes, pointing over at a bus boy who was wiping a nearby table.

“Really? Him? He doesn’t look that horny,” Dante inquired, skeptically.

“I’ve heard from some of the other servers that he jerks off on every break. From what shifts I’ve worked with him, he has a particular fantasy…” Dante was intrigued by that particular element.

“What kind of fantasy?”

“The dude is a massive sub, he’s apparently been asking some of the other waiters if them and their partners would dominate him for a while. It’s apparently kind of annoying how much he does it,” Dante gave Metis a puzzled look.

“Wait, you’re saying this as if you don’t know—”

“Babe, I care about your safety, which is why they think I’m single: I wouldn’t want any of your ‘comrades’ to make you disappear. Anyways, as I told you before—”

“Sorry to interrupt, but did you two want your drinks refilled?” the bus boy asked.

Metis anxiously handed him his cup, nodding timidly. The bus boy took the cup and placed it on his cart.

"I'll be right back with your drink, ma'am!" Metis gained a slightly amused expression, getting a good look at his nametag as he left their table. 

"Can't believe that guy— David actually thinks I'm a woman! I thought he would have recognized me—"

"Well hon, you're wearing way more than you normally do here, so I can't blame him for thinking you're someone else," Metis folded his arms as someone other than David returned with his drink.

"Do you know where David went? We need to have a word with him, if that’s alright," The waiter looked at Dante like he had just shot him in the leg. The waiter sighed.

“I told him he needed to stop doing that sh—stuff! I’ll talk to the others and see what I can do about him—”

“No, he didn’t say anything to us that was off color,” Metis paused for a moment to take a light sip of his drink, “We just wanted to talk to him about something,” The waiter’s expression lightened.

“Well if you two are friends of his or something, he went to the back to take his break. Although, if I were you I’d knock on the wall before turning the corner. You can’t unsee that no matter how hard you try.”

The waiter pointed to a door which sat adjacent to the bathroom with a sign plastered to it. Unless given authorization by one of the workers, it was best to not open it. 

The two casually went inside, Dante gawking at the sheer length of the hallway in front of him. Metis, having become deeply familiar with the hallway during his tenure at The Blood Bucket, strutted down to just before the corner, his satchel bouncing off his hip along the way. Metis gestured for Dante to come closer.

“I’m gonna spook him,” Metis whispered.

“What? No!” 

“Why not?”

Dante was shocked that he actually had to explain this to someone. He rubbed his eyes, indignantly before replying.

“Most people don’t generally like being startled—” 

“I thought I heard people talking! Who are you two and why are you here?” David’s voice caused the color to vanish from their faces.

“We would like to make you an offer. I was informed of a certain fantasy of yours and we would love to fulfil it, if you catch my drift,” Dante winked at David, Metis snickered at the awful attempt to seem smooth.

“Well look, big guy, you’re cute. I won’t deny that. I don’t know what any of those douchebags told you but if you want to have a crack at dominating me, you are gonna need to come back with someone more… male,” David looked Metis up and down, “As cute as your girlfriend probably is underneath all those bandages and that cloak, I’m only into dudes.”

Metis facepalmed and gave a heavy sigh. Was this guy serious? How could someone be so oblivious? Outside of his habitual crossdressing, Metis didn’t do too much to make himself look like a woman.

“Hold up, dude, do you seriously think I’m a woman?” David nodded in response, “Oh my god! You seriously don’t recognize me? We’ve worked together before, dumbass!”

Metis proceeded to unbutton the cloak and remove his arms, shifting it behind his back to make it appear more like a cape and not a hooded coat. The bandages were revealed to run not just from his ankle to his knee, but now they ran well above his thigh and stretched under the plaid miniskirt he was wearing. He then threw the hood back, causing his hair to fly out in a flurry of porcelain white, landing neatly on his shoulders.

Metis slowly began to lift the edge of his skirt, smiling timidly at Dante. Metis’s face grew more red as the skirt eventually glided over the scaly twin serpents that were his dicks. 

“Holy…fuck,” David sighed, gazing upon them hungrily.

“Bet you didn’t think I was packing this much, huh?” David shook his head, “Now, if you are to serve me and your master let’s move the party over to the employee restroom.”

David nodded and obediently led the pair to the employee washroom which sat adjacent to the break room, Metis locking the door behind them. 


	28. Detained: Mintanan Edition

Dimitri regained consciousness in a blindingly white room. Everything was painfully sterile with every surface looking as if it were brand new. Terrible thoughts crossed his mind as he looked upon his wrists.

To Dimitri’s horror he was cuffed to the bed. He began to yank at restraints, but all that resulted in was his wrists getting bruised. Failing to free himself, he began to softly cry to himself. He wasn’t sad to be trapped. Something lingering in the bag of his mind triggered this reaction, something he’d rather not think about at the moment.    
  


Dimitri’s crying stirred a sound nearby. A familiar sound of what seemed to be a grumble.

“N-no…stop…Let him go…WHAA—” Heavy breathing could be heard as Dimitri turned to his side to see Simone in a very similar situation to him: clad in a hospital gown and cuffed to the bed. On the other side of Simone, Dimitri could barely make out Libby who, along with being restrained like they were, was connected to an IV drip with a shimmering substance entering their veins. 

Before the two could assess the situation they were in, and before Libby could wake up, a doctor entered the room with two armed guards standing behind them, weapons ready at a moment’s notice.

“It seems our prisoners decided to wake up, well, all except for the beast. It’ll probably wake up soon anyways, but just to make sure…” The doctor glided over to Libby’s bed and violently shook it. Libby jolted awake, the cuffs causing them to fall back into bed.

“Now that their pet is awake, let’s get this over with,” the doctor took a deep breath, “You three are to report to Conference Room B for interrogation immediately after using the shower facilities on the second floor. Don’t bother trying to escape, the building is surrounded. Do you agree to follow these orders?”

Everyone reluctantly agreed and the guards proceeded to undo their restraints. The doctor handed each of them a key for their assigned shower stall, tossing Libby their key as if it were a piece of trash. The doctor and guards left the room and the three left soon after. 

The walk to the second floor was a chilling experience, the facility had transformed greatly once they exited the room. Originally, they assumed they were in a hospital, but the sludge colored concrete leeched optimism from the trio when they first witnessed it: giving them the impression they were in a dungeon when paired with the flickering bulbs affixed to the ceiling. The climb up the stairs wasn’t easy either, the steps were not evenly spaced and seemingly designed to be frustrating to climb. The air in the building smelled stagnant, like it was in a state of disrepair or there was an unfixed leak somewhere which had been building up mold. These issues became less apparent when the group reached the showers. 

The three split up: Dimitri heading into the men’s section, Simone heading into the women’s, and Libby reluctantly leaving the other two behind for the “native” section. The last section was considerably more functional than the sections reserved for the “pure” humans, however said functionality was there only to increase the efficiency of detainment and not out of any altruistic desire for the use to be in any way enjoyable. 

Such a lack of consideration of how the consumer would actually use the showers is what led to both Dimitri and Simone individually discovering that the building did not have hot water. Libby was used to the cold, the Mintanan and Greater Googolian climates were always rather chilly at best, so such a feature didn’t bother them and, if anything, gave them a feeling of poisonous nostalgia for what life was like here.

However, even under the rule of the Aerican Empire, life wasn’t this bleak. Remembering how the revolution went before they left for Eurasia, Libby was perplexed by how dull everything seemed so far. Not a single lick of color had been seen yet. Surely, with the rulers of the land cast aside and the Googolian people liberated, the fondness for all things bright and vibrant would have sunk into the very fabric of how society operated. 

With this not being the case, Libby started trembling. Their hands clenched up into balled up fists and they slammed them into the sides of the stall, crying out angrily with tears streaming down their face. Before they could fully immerse themselves in their mental breakdown, a familiar voice called from what felt like a million miles away.

“Libby? Are you done in there yet? It’s been an hour already, me and Dimitri will be heading to the conference room—” 

“No! Wait right there, I’m almost done!” Libby practically shouted from inside their stall, “I can’t lose you two because I took too long in here…”


	29. RECOVERED ANTIDE CHATLOG #1

##  Chapter 29

RECOVERED CHAT LOG 

ID: 000000706

DangerousMenace[DM] started messaging LonelyRoboticist[LR]

==========================================================

DM: Do I know you?

LR: no why do you ask

DM: I guess it’s okay, for you to follow me on here. 

DM: It’s just a bit strange in my opinion for you to have followed me out of the blue like that

LR: i can unfollow you if you want

LR: i dont understand why you think its weird tho

DM: Well, I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you, but most people on here just follow people they know in real life.

DM: We all tend to stay in our little bubbles.

LR: :(

DM: What’s wrong?

LR: from what i could get out of that

LR: it sounds like this thing is kinda pointless for me then

DM: What do you mean? Don’t you have friends?

LR: its not that i dont want friends

LR: i desperately want to talk to other people

DM: That sounds a bit desperate, dude.

LR: ha ha very funny

DM: But what’s stopping you from going and talking to people?

LR: my sister

DM: She sounds like a bitch

LR: hey thats not a very nice thing to say

DM: Well, she’s scaring people away from you, right?

LR: no thats not it at all

LR: its just that

LR: promise not to laugh at me okay

DM: I can’t promise anything but go on.

LR: it probably sounds like fake shit

LR: but i swear its true

LR: for all my life the only other person i saw was my sister

LR: i live at the top of this tower

LR: im forbidden to leave under any circumstances

DM: Okay dude, whatever. 

DM: You could have just said you were bad at making friends irl.

DM: You didn’t need to lie to me like that.

LR: but i swear im telling the truth

DM: Okay, prove it to me then.

LR: how the hell am i gonna do that

DM: I don’t know, take a picture of the view from where you are.

LR: fine then

LR: here  [ https://bit.ly/3u26Xnt ](https://bit.ly/3u26Xnt)

DM: Okay, now I feel stupid.

LR: you gonna apologize for calling me a liar

DM: No, not that. It’s just that I forgot to tell you to timestamp it.

LR: what

DM: Like, take the photo again but this time include my handle somewhere in it.

LR: okay fine  [ https://bit.ly/3dgx7Nc ](https://bit.ly/3dgx7Nc)

DM: Okay, I get it, I’m an ass.

DM:  [ https://bit.ly/3qrpCHh ](https://bit.ly/3qrpCHh)

DM: The name’s Dimitri

DM: If you need someone to talk to shoot me a message sometime.

DM: I might not respond right away, but I’ll try my best to get back to you.

LR: thanks

LR: my names Luca

LR:  [ https://bit.ly/2OPL9LJ ](https://bit.ly/2OPL9LJ)


	30. Meet Sylvia's Gang of Thieves

The door to Morgan’s cell rattled viciously. Whoever was on the other side was clearly intent on shaking it off its hinges. Such an act seemed to be futile as the intruder began slamming their weight against the door. 

Morgan was transfixed by what was happening. Throughout her many years in this place, nobody had attempted to break into her cell before. Before the door could break, a voice could be heard on the other side.

“CLEAR!” the voice shouted. Morgan was stunned for a moment before bolting to the corner of the room. Just as she was out of range, a deafening blast could be heard on the other side before it shattered into millions of splinters. Footsteps could be heard as smoke and sawdust billowed into the air.

Morgan trembled in the corner. She moved into the fetal position, softly pleading for her life. The footsteps grew louder and louder until a friendly voice called out to her from beyond the settling dust.

“Fear not, for I am no foe. I wish to liberate thee from one’s prison and guide you on a path to your destiny,” laughter could be heard as the voice finished.

“C’mon Sylvie, I thought you said you wouldn’t do that angel shit!” The second voice giggled again.

“Now look at what you’ve done, Lavender! I had all this shit prepared and you had to blow it!” Lavender cracked up again as everyone came into view. Sylvia turned to Morgan.

“Anyways, I don’t think I’ve introduced myself. My name is Sylvia Makhno, girls please introduce yourselves,” the room remained silent for several moments, “Come on! Don’t tell me y’all are shy! Lavender, why don’t you introduce yourself,” Lavender sighed, heavily.

“Do I really have to, Sylvie? You’ve said my name three fucking times already!” Sylvia glared at Lavender, “Fine! Hi There My Name Is Lavender and…Whoa!” Lavender stared at Morgan for a while transfixed by her appearance.

“Is s-something wrong?” Morgan asked.

“I thought— I didn’t think—” A wave of red rushed to Lavender’s face. Pulling the massive braid from behind her back, Lavender began feverishly stroking it, “I didn’t think you’d be like me…” Another woman appeared from the shadows of Lavender and Sylvia, muttering under her breath and indignantly tapping her foot.

“Lav, that’s such a rude thing to say to her! To most people, that is insulting— OW!” Lavender bent down and smacked her on the back of the head. As the woman was collecting herself, yet another person revealed themselves.

“Please ignore Red. I know she may seem like an uptight prude, but she means well… I think,” Red turned towards the lady, burning with anger. Red collided with the woman’s outstretched arm as she attempted to smash her rapidly flying fists into her, failing miserably at the undertaking. 

“Are you done yet?” Sylvia asked both of them, rolling her eyes at the situation. The lady holding Red in place softly nodded, stepping out of the way so Red could fall to the ground, “Okay then, you are the only one left who hasn’t introduced yourself. I suggest you get on with it.” The lady approached Morgan, venturing deep into what was left of her cell; eventually, she stretched her hand towards Morgan, who was still mostly speaking from the corner.

“Hello. My name is Periwinkle but people usually just call me Perry. Nice to meet you, even if it did require us blowing your door to pieces.” Morgan awkwardly shook Perry’s hand. Despite her warm, gentle disposition, her hand felt like it had been in a freezer for a week.

“Well, as much as we would love to stay and chat, we really need to get out of here,” Everyone turned around after Sylvia gave the order to go, all except Morgan, “Well, come on! We came all this way just to rescue you! So, come on!”

“B-b-but…” Morgan could barely speak at this point but began frantically pointing towards the radio.

“Why would you want a shitty radio like that?” Lavender asked.

“P-p-please! It’s all that ‘ave! Just please, I need to take it with me!” Morgan’s response flipped a switch in Perry.

“Red, get on Lavender’s shoulders! With your strength I’m sure you could probably pop that frame right off the wall,” Red and Lavender looked at each other, puzzled as to why they would do something so ridiculous, “Look, rescuing Morgan was the first thing we were supposed to do today. If we can’t get that right, how are we supposed to secure the artifact?” 

Red hopped on Lavender’s shoulders and (after a lot of fidgeting with the frame of the cage) managed to remove the radio from its spot inside it.

Perry snatched up the radio and gave it to Morgan.

  
“Okay, we’ll be going now!” Sylvia ordered, and off they went: leaving the cell behind them.   



	31. Return of the phone (also Luca's here, remember him? He still exists)

Laura guided Luca to a metal shutter which spanned the entire wall. She held a remote in her hand, gesturing for Luca to join her in the chairs she had sitting opposite to the shutter.

“Have a seat, I’ve got something sweet to show you,” Luca plopped down in the folding chair, the sound of him smacking the surface rang through the room. 

“What did you wanna show me?” Luca asked, “All I see is a shutter,”

“Well, let’s open the shutter, but first…” Laura clicked a button on her remote, causing the light to be sucked right out of the room. Soon after the lights flicked off, the shutter automatically raised. Waves of colorful light poured into the room, casting them in numerous colors but mostly pinks and blues.

The flickering ball of energy sat miles away from them. Even at such a distance, the wrinkles of its plastic surface were visible. Such a sight caused Luca to shift forward in his seat, nearly drooling with how far and long his mouth was open. To put it simply, he was mesmerized. 

“Wha— What is that?” Laura pointed towards the flickering ball.

“That, that is the Crucible of Creation,”

“It’s so pretty…” Luca added, still gawking at the window.

Laura began explaining its exact purpose for an extremely long amount of time; as much as I would love to write all this down for you: I’m not going to. Luca began to space out at Laura’s speech, only snapping back into reality when a hand tapped his shoulder. Before Luca could turn around, two sets of claws held his head in place.

“You can thank me later, jackass!” The voice sharply whispered into his ear. 

Luca almost screamed but before he could, a phone was thrown at him, landing on his lap. The phone was none other than Luca’s phone, the one previously abandoned in the kitchen. Laura paused her monologue and turned to see what all the commotion was about.

“You okay bud?” Luca nodded in response, turning back to find the stranger who was just behind him had vanished into thin air, seemingly never to be seen again.


End file.
